Frequently Asked Questions
How will the subscription-based model work?
Where and when will Project Better Place implement this electric vehicle infrastructure?
Who are the Members of the Board of Directors?
Who are Project Better Place investors?
What is Project Better Place’s business model?
By taking cars off the “oil grid” and putting them on the electrical smart grid, Project Better Place will reduce the environmental impact of driving. The 700 million cars currently on the world’s roads produce 2.8 billion tons of CO2 annually. This represents 20% of the world’s CO2 emissions.
Using electricity to power a car is far more efficient than using fuel: electric motors, unlike engines, do not generate friction or heat, and provide over 90% efficiency in converting electricity to motion. Also, electricity, which can come from renewable sources like wind power or solar energy, is far cleaner than burning fossil fuel.
Similar to cellular phone companies, Project Better Place will offer consumers several subscription-based ownership models.
Through these subscription models, vehicle owners will be linked into a nationwide network of charge spots and exchange stations. When a consumer parks his or her car, the network synchronizes the car with the smart electric grid to recharge the battery. When a driver travels long-distance, he or she can swap batteries at an exchange station to get a fully charged battery, similar to how we now stop to fill our gas tanks today.
To match multiple customer segments, Project Better Place will offer several car models and subscription pricing packages that will reduce total cost of ownership and subsidize the car as part of this package.
Project Better Place plans to begin the test phase of the new infrastructure using high-consumption professional consumers, such as taxis or delivery vehicles, rolling out the deployment country by country, metropolitan by metropolitan. We expect the first wave within the pilot countries to begin in early 2008, broadening to a few 1000 cars by 2009 with the expectation that we will be able to put approximately 10,000 cars on the system per month in 2010 for a total of approximately 100,000 cars on the system in each pilot site by the end of 2010.
Idan Ofer is Chairman and guides Project Better Place’s integration and collaboration with technology, manufacturing, and energy companies worldwide. He also brings extensive experience as both an investor and manager in the fields of shipping, chemicals, energy and technology. The additional board members will be announced shortly.
CEO Shai Agassi has raised more than $200 million in funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners, Israel Corporation, Morgan Stanley and private investors concerned about global climate change.
The business model for the electric cars will be similar to that used by mobile phone operators. In the same way that wireless operators deploy a network of cell towers to provide an area of mobile phone coverage, Project Better Place will establish a network of charging spots and battery exchange stations to provide ubiquitous access to electricity to power electric vehicles. The company will partner with car makers and source batteries so that consumers who subscribe to the network can get subsidized vehicles which are cheaper to buy and operate than today’s fuel-based cars. Consumers will still own their cars and will have multiple car models to choose from.