Yea, juice… as in electricity… the shocking kind.
I often wondered about the practicality of owning and operating an electric vehicle (EV) – some are really cool and really fast (for about an hour and a half before needing an overnight charge) while others just simply get you where you need to go at a reasonable traffic jam sort of pace.
Well, I think it is absurd that today’s battery technology only allows for a few hours of electricity powered driving before you need to recharge for up to 8 hours just to be able to drive home.
httpv://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1068283
There is some light on the horizon and one of my colleagues is paving the way for a major shift in the way we perceive and use electricity powered cars. He calls his business ‘Better Place’ and his business model is something I mapped out a few years ago on a napkin when a friend told me about the headaches of owning an electric car. I was not able to find funding or support for my napkin idea but Shai Agassi has succeeded from his base in Palo Alto and I am thrilled to report that he is rolling forward with a very ambitious plan to make the world a better place.
Since starting up the company, Shai has put together a strong leadership team supported by experienced engineers on the execution side. Better Place is working with governments, businesses and energy companies to accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation and has partnered with companies such as
- A123 Systems
- Acorns to Oaks II
- AGL
- Automotive Energy Supply Corporation
- DONG Energy
- Esarbee Investments Canada
- GC Investments LLC
- Hawaiian Electric Company
- Israel Cleantech Ventures
- Israel Corp.
- Macquarie Capital
- Maniv Energy Capital
- Morgan Stanley
- Musea Ventures
- Ofer Group
- Renault-Nissan Alliance
- VantagePoint Venture Partners
- Vayikra Partners
- Wolfensohn & Co.
Better Place was named one of the 2009 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) winners for its electric vehicle charge spot. The IDEA award is a celebration of the year’s most innovative and exciting product concept designs and one of the world’s most prestigious and recognizable design competitions, with a focus this year on sustainability. I am proud to know Shai and support his efforts in reducing our dependencies on fossil fuels. I think I’ll dig up that napkin now and have it framed it for him.
By now you must be wondering what this is all about… Let’s go to the video tape
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