We told you early this morning about the new electric car company Project Better Place. The founder and CEO, Shai Agassi made an appearance on CNBC 11:35 AM EST and the full video of his interview is available online. The video includes a computer graphic simulation of one of the Project Better Place electric cars and the battery swapping station. It appears there are two kinds of stations; one, a modified parking spot, which I guess would be in a city parking lot and the other a covered, cargo container like building, which seemed to be out in the country.
Shai said the process of exchanging batteries would take just 2-3 minutes. When asked if he had enough to build the infrastructure, which he compares to mobile networks, he said many of his investors are bankers. Shai also mentions in the interview that he raised $200M in just 3 months and that two key things that made Project Better Place possible was 1.) the price of oil went up a lot and 2.) there are "new generation of batteries that can outlive the car." Also, Shai says he initially pitched this as a government project but Israeli President Shimon Peres suggested he explore the idea in the private market and Shai took his advice. It wasn't the last time, as Shimon now advises the company.
We will have more on Project Better Place soon.
Shai said the process of exchanging batteries would take just 2-3 minutes. When asked if he had enough to build the infrastructure, which he compares to mobile networks, he said many of his investors are bankers. Shai also mentions in the interview that he raised $200M in just 3 months and that two key things that made Project Better Place possible was 1.) the price of oil went up a lot and 2.) there are "new generation of batteries that can outlive the car." Also, Shai says he initially pitched this as a government project but Israeli President Shimon Peres suggested he explore the idea in the private market and Shai took his advice. It wasn't the last time, as Shimon now advises the company.
We will have more on Project Better Place soon.
[Source: CNBC]
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