Better place the battery replacement system

system The best place will it be obsolete even before it is widely deployed?

A few weeks ago, the Better Place startup unveiled its prototype "service station" for electric vehicles in Tokyo. Its principle is simple: an electric vehicle enters a relay station to replace a discharged battery with a full one. To do this, the car is placed on a platform similar to that used in automatic car washes and the engine is turned off. A robotic tray separates the battery from the bottom of the vehicle to make room for a second tray that brings a full battery. After fully installing the battery, the vehicle can travel up to 160 km. It is planned that the operation will take less time than regular refueling with gasoline. The company announces "full" electricity in less than a minute. Better Place has already opened several test stations. in Israel and the USA.

Group Renault-Nissan which also specializes in all-electric vehicles, has signed a contract with an Israeli company for its future models. But despite the ingenuity of this system, there are still many obstacles to overcome. First of all, these infrastructures have their costs, and there is no certainty that various countries wishing to introduce an electric car are ready to stick their hands in their pockets for technology that is just emerging and that has not yet proven itself.

Then the Renault-Nissan group is today the only manufacturer that wants to produce on a large scale electric vehicles with replaceable batteries and therefore using the Better Place system. For Better Place to be efficient and profitable, agreements need to be made with various EV manufacturers to implement a universal battery replacement system on their models.

This brings us to the third and final issue - competition and new technological discoveries. The American company Altair intends to launch a battery on the market before the end of the year, which can be charged in less than 6 minutes.

The first Better Place stations will open by the end of the year in Denmark и Israel.

Shai Agassi and his best place system: