Comments on: Shai Agassi: First Battery Swap Station Lands In Japan, But Skeptics Remain

By: Battery Swapping & Pay-Per-Mile to Speed Adoption of Electric Cars, Says Study

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:34:09 +0000

[...] while Better Place has yet to convince most car companies to design plug-in vehicles with a standard battery pack located at the bottom of [...]

By: Thomas N. Morrison

Thomas N. Morrison — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:05:44 +0000

D-batteries, anyone? We’ve been “swapping” batteries as long as there have been batteries, so the idea of swappable batteries in electric cars seem to be a no-brainer. As for swap stations costing $500,000, how much does one think building a regular gas station costs? Duh? Standardization used to be a key feature of many parts of auto(and other machine) manufacturing, so “mandating” standardized battery packs would go a LONG way toward making an electric vehicle infrastucture.

By: L.Y. Tseng

L.Y. Tseng — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:23:12 +0000

The ideas and plans of Better Place are feasible and doable, technically; the only problem is “timing”. Maybe they should start from some unique and quick markets and let the world see and feel all the beauties of EVs. One possibility will be the electric scooter, it’s easy, cheap and highly populated in some markets. They should take a good look of that market.

By: Olivier

Olivier — Thu, 14 May 2009 01:05:23 +0000

Still some Skeptics ?
Video :
http://www.betterplace.com/company/video-detail/better-place-battery-switch-technology-demonstration/

By: Watch History (Revolution or Flop?) as Better Place Unveils Battery Swap Station

Watch History (Revolution or Flop?) as Better Place Unveils Battery Swap Station — Tue, 12 May 2009 22:30:05 +0000

[...] a more expensive version as each swap station will cost on the order of $500,000. As we learned through a schematic at the Fortune Magazine conference in April, the swappable “pancake style” battery pack, currently made by lithium ion [...]

By: Robert Gale

Robert Gale — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:54:43 +0000

Notice how all the doubters in the article are Better Place competitors? What else do you expect them to say.

Better Place technology is not pie-in-the-sky, it actually exists. It is going live in several locales over the next few months. Battery swap changes pure (non-hybrid) electric cars from special-purpose vehicles (only trips short enough to do on one charge) to general-purpose vehicles. You could have a non-fossil-fuel-burning vehicle as your only car. The need for oil is one of the most destructive elements in human society (money, pollution, war, terrorism, etc.), but until now there was no realistic way to avoid using oil for transportation. This is our first major opportunity to thumb our noses at the oil cartels. It's huge.

By: Ron Groves

Ron Groves — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:02:54 +0000

Sue Cischke, Group VP for Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering at Ford Motor Co. sez in the above article that we might blame Ford if our ” battery swap” in our Ford EV at a Better Place station is less than satisfactory (not sure what would make for a bad experience, got a dud battery or something?). That is just barking, do we blame Ford now if we have a bad experience refueling our Ford at a Shell station? I am sure she did not mean to say that, right?

By: james

james — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:35:41 +0000

@Ron,
I appreciate your point. But I don’t understand how all these half-million dollar swap stations are going to be paid for? Aggasi has talked about a monthy service fee in line with what we currently pay for gas every month, but in his case we pay for the use of their batteries and charge stations, etc (?). What if I only really go out of my car’s range once a year? Is it going to be a good deal for me? What if most drivers are like me in that way? I don’t think I want to charged every month for something I rarely if ever need. Unless I just think of it as a lease on the battery pack. It leaves me with more questions then anything.
I think we ought to consider an on-board generator that runs on something other than fuel. Say- compressed air. High compression air “stations” would likely be MUCH less expensive/tricky than battery swap stations. No need to worry about gas stagnating in a tank, burning in an accident, exploding, and dealing with a complex engine. The tank would be made of carbon fiber and would split on impact, releasing the air harmlessly (so I’ve read) and would not explode. This is just one idea. Better ideas may already be on the drawing board.
Simplicity should be the aim. Battery swap stations are anything but simple/elegant.

By: Ron Edwards

Ron Edwards — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 04:39:19 +0000

What many fail to realise is that the battery swapping station is not just important for “a quick full”. It enables the battery to be owned by someone other than the car owner. When buying or selling an electric car it then doesnt matter how many miles are on the battery. The battery doesnt have to be paid for upfront. It is a huge enabler of electric cars because of the change in business model opportunity rather than just a convenient fill point.

By: The Battery Swapping Debate « Nogascar’s Blog

The Battery Swapping Debate « Nogascar’s Blog — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:12:48 +0000

[...] Swapping Stations with an upcoming demo in Yokohama the debate on its feasibility is heating up. Earth2tech has a report of the recent Fortune Brainstorm Green conference where Shai Agassi spoke about Better [...]

By: ricky a.

ricky a. — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 06:11:31 +0000

better place sounds like a dream. who funded this company again? is there a real business plan?

By: Better Place Pops the Hood, Gears Up for All-or-Nothing Rollout

Better Place Pops the Hood, Gears Up for All-or-Nothing Rollout — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:21:27 +0000

[...] (and get a lucrative business out of it) — are a tougher pill for automakers to swallow, as we heard yesterday from Ford, Toyota and even fellow startup Fisker Automotive at the Fortune Brainstorm Green [...]