BETTER PLACE CEO Shai Agassi said this week that the electric version of the Renault Fluence, which Better Place will sell from its own retail points, will sell for 3000 to 5000 euros ($5,075-$8450) less than the conventional petrol version.
Mr Agassi’s comments follow news that Renault and electric vehicle service provider Better Place have inked a deal that will see 100,000 electric Renaults offered in Denmark and Israel, two of Better Place’s strongest markets.
Speaking with German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, Mr Agassi said that although Renault has not yet settled on a price for the Fluence, the electric version will be significantly cheaper thanks to government incentives.
"Renault has not set prices yet, but the e-car will be 3,000 to 5,000 euros cheaper than the model with a gasoline engine," Shai Agassi told Auto Motor und Sport.
"Governments give incentives for electronic vehicles, that’s how we can sell the car at cheaper prices."
Buyers will save money not only because of the government incentives, but also because the expensive battery packs - potentially costing as much as $16,000 (around $2000 more than a Hyundai Getz) - will be leased by Fluence owners rather than bought.
Using a distance-based model, battery packs will be leased at around 250 euros per month for motorists covering up to 30,000km annually - about the same as the cost of running the equivalent petrol model.
Fluence owners will also be able to pay a flat rate of around 350 euros per month to cover unlimited kilometres.
Mr Agassi believes that the profit generated by the battery leasing programme will far exceed the cost to Better Place for each lithium-ion battery pack.
100,000 Fluence Sales By 2016
According to Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi, some 50 companies in Israel plan to add Better Place’s specialised Renaults to their fleets.
"We have pledges from 50 firms in Israel that plan to replace company cars with 35,000 electric cars starting in 2011," Mr Agassi told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
To meet what it expects to be a huge demand, Better Place has committed to purchasing 100,000 Renault Fluence cars, based on the concept revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week.
The Renault Fluence, an electric vehicle based on the same technology used in the Nissan LEAF, is expected to achieve a driving range of 160km before it must be recharged.
Better Place’s charging systems will allow the Fluence’s batteries to be fully charged in four to eight hours, or a ‘Quick Drop’ station can be used to swap in a full battery in under 5 minutes.
A quick charge can be accomplished in 20 minutes, returning 80 percent of the battery’s charge.
With charging and battery-swap infrastructure in place in both Israel and Denmark, Better Place expects to have 100,000 cars on the road by 2016.
The electric cars will be sold in Israel through Better Place’s own retail points and at certain Renault dealerships.
Better Place Australia, the local arm of Mr Agassi’s electric vehicle services company, recently announced a deal with the city of Canberra to establish a similar network in the nation’s capital.
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Hybrid is a joke !
Full electric is the way to go. I think Shai and Renault/Nissan underestimate the potential. There will be miliions, not only a hundred thousand by that date. Who bet on that? By judging all the other lazy ones jumping on the wagon suddenly (even VW) I think we finally and hopefully start to awaken. Now it can go fast, really fast.
Mazda called, they want their Mazda3 concept sketches back.
Theme : Addressing Range Anxieties.
1. The range of noticeable EVs are sufficient to meet the daily driving needs of more than 95% of drivers ((The vast majority of people (95%) drive less than 100/km a day, 82% of the respondents said they drive 40 miles or less a day, with an average daily driving distance of 27 miles.)).
As for long trip needs, all but Americans and many of developed nations have existing automobiles, in this regard, EVs are best suited to their daily use until the infrastructure comes into wide use. And people are already doing that.
2. The on-board IT system shows the driving radius on a maximum range display under the current state of charge and calculates if the vehicle is within range of a pre-set destination. And the navigation system points out the latest information on available charging stations within the current driving range.
3. In 21st century, home, workplace, or stores etc also serve as a charge station as electricity is everywhere. With a long extension code inside, just in case, riders can get help from almost anyplace, not to mention the stores to provide charge service, and many of EVs are equipped with a quick charger.
4. Unlike fuel price, as time goes by, the price of battery is expected to drop dramatically in the foreseeable future as with computer components, in that case, mounting additional battery might be not a problem. And the EVs that come in a range of 200 to 300 miles between charges are on fast-tract toward mass-market, as Batteries become more efficient.
5. Indian EV maker Reva said it has also set about addressing anxieties about e-car range, this fantastic wireless electricity/ “instant remote recharge” will be widely available down the line.
6. The vehicle-to-grid communication technology is helping the battery serve as a storage to prevent the costly blackout standing at about $90 to 100bn per year. That means utilities are shedding cost for additional storage facilities and ratepayers are selling electricity during peak demand so that EVs can make more economic sense, as we know. ((The cost of running the vehicle should be 1 to 2 cents per mile, compared to 10 cents or more per mile to run a gas car. Electric vehicles require little maintenance — no oil changes, for instance –. Better still, they can sell electricity or charge at the stores offering charge service.))
It is also in the best interest of electricity utilities that EVs are going mainstream, thereby they need to put in charge stands where needed around highways, major roads with card readers or cell phone tech.
7. I’m hopeful that the charge network will extend the select districts to nation-wide scale throughout the world, and this environment can usher in active private investings in EVs. And I remain confident that investing in charge stands could give rise to multiple times as much investing effect, so to speak, some billions of investing, this simple deployment, could call into the most-sought energy independence and solid recovery around the world.
Thank You !
Great idea in my book.
So true about the Mazda3 concept too…..