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Palo Alto-based Better Place has signed multiple deals to roll out networks of charging spots and battery-switching stations in Australia, California, Canada, Denmark, Hawaii, and Israel. Together with manufacturing partner Renault -- which rolled out the Fluence ZE prototype pictured below at today's Frankfurt auto show -- the company claims at least 100,000 compatible electric vehicles (EVs) will be on the road in Denmark and Israel by 2016.
According to Better Place, infrastructure for its wholly electric EVs will consist of the following:
Better Place says the lithium-ion battery packs used in the Renault Fluence ZE will last from between 100 to 200 miles per charge. After that, they'll either need to be recharged -- a process said to take from three to seven hours -- or swapped out at a switch station (below), the company explains.
For long trips, therefore, drivers will need to be aware of where they can find both charging stations and switch stations. As a result, Better Place says, each of its vehicles will include GPS receivers plus onboard software. The latter, code-named "AutoOS," will said to run on Intel Atom processors and a Windows Embedded operating system (version unspecified), the company adds.
Head units, produced in conjunction with Continental of Germany, will display charging and switch stations on a map for drivers, as pictured above. The AutoOS software will also maximize charging efficiency by making sure batteries are replenished when energy costs are as low as possible, Better Place says.
AutoOS will feature an open architecture, allowing third-party developers to build their own applications on top of it, according to Better Place. By tapping into standard CANmessages that all cars use to communicate diagnostic messages, the hardware and software will giveOEMs "an easy on-ramp to ... the Better Place system," the companyadds.
Better Place says its master data center will work to prevent spikes in power demand, even when multiple vehicles are plugged in simultaneously. "Smart charging" will be enabled by monitoring the state of charge of each vehicle battery, then optimizing and prioritizing when, where, and how much each car is charged.
To date, Better Place-compatible vehicles have been demonstrated onlyby Renault and its Nissan affiliate. As for the required lithium-ionbattery packs, they'll initially cost about $12,000 apiece tomanufacture and will remain the property of Better Place, according tothe company. Better Place says it will also handle the relationshipswith power companies, charging motorists on a simple cost-per-milebasis.
John Fikany, a Microsoft vice president in the company's commercial sector industries division, stated, "Better Place's vision for accelerating the transition from oil-based transportation to a sustainablemobility model will help to draw in a new ecosystem of players and innovations all aimed at fighting climate change. We view electric cars as roaming consumer electronic devices, which have the potential to move from niche product to mainstream, and we're excited that Better Place is developing their solution using Microsoft technology."
A video demonstrating "a day in the life with a Better Place EV"
Source: Better Place
(click to play)
Further information
The Renault Fluence ZE as well as other components in the Better Place system will be on display at the Frankfurt Motor Show, from Sept. 15 to 27 in Hall 3.1, the company says. More information may be found on the company's website, here.
An interesting interview with Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi, a former SAP executive, may be found on the Knowledge@Wharton website, here.
