$1B Electric Car Network Announced for California
November 21, 2008 by admin
The electric vehicle charging startup, Better Place, has struck a deal with California, including the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, to set up a $1 billion charging network for electric cars, with car availability beginning in 2012.
The Better Place network in the Bay Area is a plan to support electric car development throughout the state, unlike its charging network in Israel. The deal in Israel involved a tie-up with Nissan-Renault to make the small cars that work with the stations, which swap out depleted batteries for new ones.
The thousands of Better Place stations to be installed in northern California will be able to charge any type of electric car, allowing charging of cars with either fixed or replaceable batteries.
The announcement took place today at San Francisco’s city hall, and was attended by the mayors of the three cities, as well as governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Better Place’s founder, Shai Agassi.Details were sketchy, with only the amount of capital to be invested and the project’s start date being announced. Permitting will begin in early 2009 and construction in 2010. This does look like California is finally becoming serious about electric cars.
Let of some Steam Arnie - go electric!