Tuesday 15 February 2011. The Green Piece Column.
A new age is about to begin in Israel where the country is gearing up to deploy a fleet of electric cars later this year that could break its dependence on oil before the end of the decade.
At the heart of this venture is the Better Place model, which can switch a full battery in and out of an electric car in less time than it takes to fill up a regular car with petrol. So why aren’t we following this model and making our own serious push into the area of electrification?
What is Better Place all about?
Better Place is the brainchild of Shai Agassi, a high-tech multi-millionaire and a former number two at German software group SAP. His idea was to get an entire country to give up its dependence on oil. To do this he needed to introduce electric cars and overcome the problems of short battery life and long recharging times.
To solve the issue, he combined a country-wide network of charge points with the ability to switch a battery out of a vehicle and replace it with a new one in less time than is taken to fill up a petrol-powered car. With the Better Place battery switch technology, the vehicle rolls on to two rails while a robot slides underneath and removes the battery, replacing it with a new one.
Now thanks to a partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, around 100,000 Renault Fluence zero emission vehicles (pictured above) are expected to hit the roads later this year with 10,000 of the 50,000 visitors to the Better Place test centre having already signed up and Better Place also having established partnerships with 150 corporate fleets to offer the Fluence to their employees.
Agassi is predicting a huge leap in sales by 2015 with the vehicles proving to be less expensive and easier to run than petrol cars.
So why isn’t the Better Place model being used here?
According to Agassi, in a recent interview with The Guardian, the British government is not doing enough to give potential consumers an incentive to buy electric vehicles. He believes that the likes of China, the USA, France, Denmark and Japan are all ahead of the UK in terms of the incentives they are offering.
Even though the British government has passed legislation to offer tax incentives up to £5,000 on the purchase of electric cars, Agassi believes they are too small and too short-term as they are only effective through the year 2012. He wants to see more clarity that the government is willing to support the framework over the long term.
He points to Denmark as an example of a country that is racing ahead of the UK. It is currently testing the Better Place model too and plans to eventually tax petrol driven cars by as much as 180 per cent while levying no tax on electric vehicles. Agassi thinks that the UK government should similarly “pull the levers” so that consumers make “rational decisions” for the economy.
A concept with flaws
Despite Agassi’s understandably firm backing of the Better Place model, it is not without its critics.
For example, Mark Coroler, a senior vice president at Schneider Electric, told the Haaretz newspaper that Israel’s state-run electricity grid would not be able to handle the influx of electric cars that use as much power as a household. There are also criticisms that the influx of electric cars will not necessarily be greener for the environment because the electricity is still being sourced from oil, gas and even coal.
However, Agassi fires back at these comments pointing out that grid limitations can be overcome with software that oversees and manages recharging without the addition of a single generator; and besides, most cars will be charged overnight when demand for electricity is low.
In addition, the idea that the electricity is not necessarily cleaner than petrol and diesel is true for now – but this can be overcome as more electricity comes from renewable sources such as wind and hydro power.
Our verdict – UK at risk of being left behind
Shai Agassi is certainly a passionate man and a great salesman for the Better Place concept, but it’s understandable that countries such as the UK might want to take a “wait and see” approach to view how successful it is in practise and avoid pouring millions into something that could leave egg on their faces.
However, what’s clear from Agassi’s comments on the British government is that its incentives currently don’t go far enough. While it would be too radical and risky to speak of serious petrol price hikes in the future (particularly as prices are such a sticking point with the public at the moment) they should be on the agenda once electric vehicles are firmly established.
Furthermore, the £5,000 incentive, with so few electric cars currently available and such a lack of infrastructure in place, seems almost like a misplaced gesture. Instead the government should be pouring more money into electric vehicle charging points across the country, rather than just in select cities, to help potential customers overcome range anxiety.
Whether electric cars are simply recharged or whether they ultimately adopt the Better Place battery swap model remains to be seen – however, what we do know is that the area of electrification is coming and we can’t afford to stand still.
Faye Sunderland
