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8:15 am
April 3, 2010
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John Symond
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Post edited 1:23 pm – April 3, 2010 by John Symond
Welcome to a Better Place
According to Evan Thornley, CEO of the company “Better Place”, the entire Australian car fleet will be converted to electricity in 20 to 30 years from now.
His company does not design, build or sell electric vehicles. Instead it designs and builds the infrastructure required to power them. Intense worldwide competition to produce electric cars ensures that they will be available, as soon as the network to power them is built.
Better Place aims to build the equivalent of a chain of petrol stations, where cars can be recharged, or have their batteries exchanged for fully charged ones, in moments, by robot-like machines.
Hard to believe? They are on schedule to begin rolling this out in Canberra in 2011. Canberra will be the first Australian city to get this infrastructure; and Australia only the third country, after Denmark and Israel, where this equipment will be installed.
Better Place plan to use only renewable (non- fossil) electrical energy to recharge the cars. (I wonder where that will come from?)
The longer term prospects are 'electric', as battery prices come down, and petrol prices go up. Electric cars have great acceleration and speed and their motors last about three times longer. The design of these motors is inherently more efficient than petrol or diesel engines.
The aim is that 80% of drivers will be able to “drive wherever they want”.
Must be time to start researching your next new car purchase…
Sources:
- Graham Downie, Canberra Times 15 March, 2010;
- Better Place website
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5:01 am
July 27, 2010
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haydn
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Better Place choosing Canberra is great to hear! I can't wait to see the first battery changing station installed and operational!
It will be interesting to see how long it takes them to get electric cars widely available on Canberra roads – my feeling is that it will take longer than they think… Especially getting a supply of right hand drive vehicles (for which there is going to be massive global demand for)
Having just purchased an EV myself (a non-Better Place vehicle – see my other post here) I also wonder what they will support in terms of industry standards for other EV manufacturers – and how they will allow (at minimal cost) for other manufacturers to make use of their infrastructure (or connector types for example)… …I'm tentatively excited – but I think its really important that they:
- embrace a model which maximises the number of EV makes and models that can connect (through open and accepted ISO or Engineering standards), and
- don't differentiate between Better Place cars and other manufacturers cars in terms of access to their charging stations (I hear that electricity charging non-BetterPlace vehicles will be more expensive)
I'm excited about the concept, but have my doubts about how co-operative a Multi-National company will be with other manufacturers…
I imagine this is something ACTEW are conscious of, but wonder if they have any answers?
Does anyone know the answer to these questions?
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5:01 am
July 27, 2010
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haydn
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Post edited 10:28 am – July 27, 2010 by haydn
oops double post
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10:52 pm
August 17, 2010
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John Symond
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I came across this report recently. It contains a great set of illustrations and articles about the many new vehicles about to come on the market. The source is an American investment advisory newsletter "Green Chip Stocks"
The Electric Car Revolution Starts Now! 
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1:15 am
August 18, 2010
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marea
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Hi John,
I'll read the newsletter with interest.
Also, I missed the forum at the ANU on electric cars on 9 August (part of the Australian Science Festival), but the ABC radio program Life Matters has an audio record of it on the ABC website.
The ABC promo for the event was:
"ABC Science Broadcaster and environmentalist Bernie Hobbs has recently put her money where her mouth is, and bought a fully electric vehicle.
Life Matters presenter Richard Aedy took a ride with Bernie in her Blade Electron to find out more about how electric cars differ from the conventional combustion engine vehicles that dominate our roads.
Tonight in Canberra Richard and Bernie will join an expert panel for the Alternate Routes forum where they'll talk more about the future of electric cars within Australia's transport future.
Other panellists are Andrew Simpson, a senior research fellow at Curtin University's Sustainability Policy Institute; Evan Thornley who's CEO of Better Place, one of a number of companies looking to develop a network of charge sites in Australia; and Warren Brown, former co-host of Top Gear Australia, and Daily Telegraph cartoonist."
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9:51 pm
September 9, 2010
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marea
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See the latest article on climateXchange here on Haydn's experience driving his Blade Electron electric car. It looks like it's been a positive experience so far!
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4:48 am
September 19, 2010
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OutandAbout
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It was a glorious sunny day for the 2010 Canberra Electric Vehicle Festival yesterday. It was a successful day with a good turnout by people keen to see the range of electric cars and bikes on display. Check out the photos below:
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Above: Haydn and the Blade Electron
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Above: The fabulous Tesla sports car
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Above: The MiEV (Mitsubishi electric vehicle) being recharged at a Better Place recharging post
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Above: Electric bikes
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5:08 am
September 30, 2010
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Bill
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For more on the 2010 Canberra Electric Vehicle Festival see a great video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..Gfm9YU0CbE
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5:20 am
September 30, 2010
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Bill
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And still more of the Electric Vehicle Festival!:
http://knol.google.com/k/berna…..esnw2g/43#
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8:34 am
September 30, 2010
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get involved
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Thanks Bill,
Enjoyed watching the video on youtube and thanks also for the link to the comprehensive photo collection.
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5:40 pm
December 6, 2010
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marea
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I read in the Canberra Times on 4 December that Nissan is launching its Leaf electric car (standing for Leading Environmentally-friendly Affordable Family Car). Apparently, it's a mid-sized hatchback that can reach a maximum speed of 145 km/hr and its top driving range is 200km on a single eight-hour charge. It can reportedly also be rapid-charged to 80 per cent of capacity in 30 minutes at special charging stations.
Nissan started mass-producing it in October in Japan and plans to expand production to North America in 2012 and in Europe in 2013. The car sells for about A$46,000.
The article says that Toyota also plans to launch its own electric car by 2012.
It's terrific to see this accelerating shift to electric cars and greater competition leading to better features, such as the longer range and rapid-charge option.
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1:52 am
December 7, 2010
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John Symond
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More companies should follow GE's lead:
“General Electric announced Thursday that it plans to buy 25,000 electric cars in an effort to give the nascent technology a jump start and help develop a potentially big new market for the company.”
“The first mass-market electric cars are set to go on sale next month…GE estimates the sector could bring it up to $500 million in revenue over the next three years. GE builds natural-gas-fired generators for utilities, electric motors, advanced electric meters and a home electric-car charging station – all of which could be in higher demand if drivers buy electric cars.” (November 24, 2010)
Source Al Gore's blog 
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4:47 pm
January 23, 2011
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marea
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Another new entrant in this space is Holden's Volt, being sold in the US as a General Motors Chevrolet (and mentioned in the article about GE referred to in John's post above). However, it's a hybrid.
According to a Sydney Morning Herald article on 15-16 January 2011, General Motors claims its plug-in electric hybrid Volt can run for up to 80 kilometres on electric power only, depending on driving style and conditions. It's official electric-only range is 50km.
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11:58 am
February 4, 2011
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Keith Thomas
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80 km on half a ton of batteries compared with 80 km on 3 kg of petrol. It'll be a long time before this takes off. In the meantime, remember, that most recharging has to be done from coal-powered electricity – not climate friendly in any way!
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2:01 pm
February 4, 2011
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John Symond
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Keith Thomas said:
80 km on half a ton of batteries compared with 80 km on 3 kg of petrol. It'll be a long time before this takes off. In the meantime, remember, that most recharging has to be done from coal-powered electricity – not climate friendly in any way!
It won't be long at all before it takes off, because we have already passed Peak Oil production. This will cause petrol prices to rise to levels you would not have thought possible. Here are three reasons why electric cars are superior:
- Electric cars have a simpler engine design and so are inherently more efficient users of energy, so a car powered by coal fired electricity still causes fewer CO2 emissions than a petrol fuelled car.
- An electric car at least has the potential to be recharged with non-fossil fuelled power plants – e.g. Green Power. Whereas a petrol powered vehicle is stuck with fossil fuel.
- Cars frequently have a life-span of 20 years. So the buyer may begin by using a less than perfect source of electricity, but can move to it when the opportunity arises.
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7:02 pm
April 16, 2011
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marea
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There seems to be a lot of public interest in electric cars judging from a recent online survey by the Sydney Morning Herald. Out of 852 respondents to the question "What's your view of the future of electric cars in Australia?":
- 27% said that their next car would be electric
- 55% said that the future prospects for electric cars are good if price and range issues can be solved
- Only 12% thought that electric cars will make little headway into the foreseeable future, and
- 6% said it is too hard to tell at this point
Check out the article "Electric car plans zoom ahead" on 8 April and the associated online poll here.
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8:36 am
April 23, 2011
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PeterC
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Keith Thomas said:
80 km on half a ton of batteries compared with 80 km on 3 kg of petrol. It'll be a long time before this takes off. In the meantime, remember, that most recharging has to be done from coal-powered electricity – not climate friendly in any way!
This is a sadly dated comment. 1) I have already been driving a car for two years with about that range using 135kg of LiFePO4 battery, not half a ton (which it would have been with lead acid). That style of battery best suits a DIY conversion but other Li variants used commercially have twice the energy density. My car is not much heavier than before the conversion after throwing away (recycling) the engine, petrol tank, exhaust etc. 2) A commercially produced car would typically have more range than my conversion which I find sufficient for a town car. 3) I purchase 100% greenpower to run my car, and so do companies doing car charging services like Betterplace. There have been many studies showing the effects of charging on the ordinary grid mix. Electric cars are so much more efficient that even on mostly coal the concensus is that it doesn't work out any worse than a similar car on petrol. With an increasing proportion of renewable power in the grid this can only get better. 4) Even if it didn't get better we could run much of our transport on reliable local energy rather than being dependent on the vagaries of international oil supply.
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2:41 pm
May 14, 2011
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marea
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On the issue of the range of electric vehicles, I was interested to read in the Sydney Morning Herald on 13 May 2011 that Google has signed a deal with Ford that will result in data about drivers' trips being logged and analysed. The goal is to develop cars that can predict where the driver wants to go as soon as the vehicle is started, and map the most efficient way to get there.
Apparently, the concept is likely to be most beneficial in extending the operating range of electric or hybrid vehicles, and will address people's concerns that their cars will run out of charge before they reach their destination.
The two companies plan to store huge amounts of information using cloud computing technology. I wonder if there'll be an opt-out option if drivers don't want all their travel logged?
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1:16 pm
May 21, 2011
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Bill
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Canberra's Electric Vehicle Festival is on again! Sunday 25 Sept. 2011 – same place as last year – West lawns Old Parliament House. 9 am to 4 pm and, like usual, free. More electric cars, bikes, boats, go carts etc. Lots of fun. Coffee and eats. I would have posted this on the events calendar but can't get it to work for me.
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2:01 pm
May 21, 2011
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PeterC
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marea said:
…The goal is to develop cars that can predict where the driver wants to go as soon as the vehicle is started, and map the most efficient way to get there…
No idea if Ford/Google lets you opt out. As an electric car driver of 2 years now I find the Get Directions features of Google Maps very handy. If I am planning a trip somewhere I have not been previously I get the distance accurately and can judge whether my range is sufficient. From then on I know that a trip to that destination is OK. Generally for anywhere around town my range is fine but that maps feature adds confidence.
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