{"id":548447,"date":"2010-04-30T07:24:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T11:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864176.post-8021192662401270772"},"modified":"2010-04-30T18:58:09","modified_gmt":"2010-04-30T22:58:09","slug":"better-place-%e2%80%9con-time-and-budget%e2%80%9d-for-its-ev-recharge-and-battery-swap-site-rollout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/548447","title":{"rendered":"Better Place \u201con time and budget\u201d for its EV recharge and battery swap site rollout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Go Auto has an article on Better Place<\/a> Australia and their plans to start rolling out their network in 2011 – Better Place \u201con time and budget\u201d for its EV recharge and battery swap site rollout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BETTER Place Australia CEO Evan Thornley says the electric vehicle infrastructure company will prove sceptics wrong by \u2018building it\u2019 rather than \u2018dreaming it\u2019 when it starts rolling out its battery-swap and recharge stations in Australia, starting in Canberra in 2011.<\/p>\n

Mr Thornley said Better Place was well advanced on its network plan for battery switch sites around the country, with at least one \u201cin key districts and then more detailed site acquisitions to occur\u201d as the rollout of EVs gathered pace.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of those will occur in the second half of 2011 or early in 2012,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Tokyo at the opening of Better Place\u2019s world-first taxi battery swap station, Mr Thornley said he had overcome every obstacle put in his way.<\/p>\n

He said opponents of Better Place\u2019s pledge to \u2018rid the world\u2019s addiction to oil\u2019 only had fear, uncertainty and doubt to rely on, and the company had continued to grow and attract investment, despite the global financial crisis and the massive trough the world\u2019s car industry was in.<\/p>\n

The company believes this momentum will continue as more Australians grasp the fact that \u2013 based on average mileages for vehicles \u2013 it will actually be significantly cheaper to switch from fossil fuel to electricity when mainstream EV sales commence. …<\/p>\n

Accessing \u2018clean\u2019 electricity that does not require brown coal or other carbon-releasing methods to make it is also one of Better Place Australia\u2019s core goals.<\/p>\n

Mr Thornley \u2013 a former Victorian Labor politician \u2013 explained that although wind power would probably be the company\u2019s primary electricity source for Australia, the fact that it can come from a variety of generators without impacting the EV infrastructure or the car itself was another benefit.<\/p>\n

These other sources will include geo thermal (\u201ccertainly if that is brought to industrial scale\u201d), solar thermal, and clean coal technology \u201cif that comes good\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly don\u2019t see the availability of premium electricity as a barrier at all,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are very confident about plenty of renewable electricity being available.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an important point about EVs \u2013 your energy source is independent. You can move from one form of zero emissions electricity source to another without a single dollar of new investment in the car fleet or the charge network.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Better Place Australia would not comment on whether it supports nuclear power sourcing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not for us to comment. If the community decides that is the path it wants to go down, then it does. We are not in the business of advocating one way or another,\u201d Mr Thornley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see plenty of zero emissions energy sources available today \u2013 and on a practical matter there\u2019s not a snowball\u2019s chance in hell of any nuclear power being available in this country within the next 15 years anyway, so if or when it happens we will deal with that then.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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