VHS or Beta? Blu Ray or HD? The race for supremacy in technological innovation is often the stuff of legend and the question of whether electric vehicles will more likely be “refueled” by plugging in or by swapping discharged batteries for fresh ones is no different. Well, maybe a little different. In the case of EVs, it is quite possible the two technologies, although competing on some level, could both win and flourish simultaneously.

The obvious advantage of pulling a car into a station and swapping a spent battery for a fresh one is the amount of time it takes compared to plugging-in and charging. As demonstrated in the video below, cars employing the Better Place model can be completely rejuvenated with a fresh battery in just over a minute. In terms of charging stations, so-called Level Two chargers (fast-charging DC stations) will charge a battery in 10-25 minutes, usually only recharging a battery to 80 percent of capacity in that time.

But because of the specific infrastructure needed to make the switching station model work, Better Place cars like the Renault Fluence ZE can also be plugged-in and charged via Level One (slow-charging) and Level Two like the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt and other EVs currently on the American market or headed that way.

Currently, Better Place is focusing on the populations dense markets of Israel and Denmark, but the company’s founder and CEO, Shai Agassi said in a recent interview with NPR that he hopes to prove the viability of the switching station concept in corridors in Australia and then in the U.S.

Article by Timothy B. Hurst, appearing courtesy Earth & Industry.

Related posts:

• New Lithium-Ion Battery Offers Quicker Charging Times, Researchers Say
• Analysts Say Battery Prices Are Key to Lower Electric Vehicle Prices
• New MIT Battery Design Could Double Range of Electric Cars
• New Battery Uses Seawater and Freshwater to Produce Electricity
• How Accurate is the Press Coverage on Electric Vehicles?

I notice that Shai Agassi of Project Better Place was interviewed on NPR again this morning. Holy cow, that guy has wonderful PR; it’s hard to turn around without running into him presenting his idea (ubiquitous electric vehicle battery swapping stations).

But does it seem practical for a landmass the size of the US? Agassi’s talking point is the “ABCs” of EVs: Automobiles, Batteries, and Charging, in which he reminds us that all the money we’ve invested in the first two will not win the day if we fail to deal properly with the third. Of course this is true – and battery swapping is a wonderful solution for certain parts of the world, e.g., countries like Israel (its first customer). Israel is extremely dense, and surrounded by oil-rich enemies.

I’m no fan of big oil myself, but I just can’t see the battery swapping stations all over a landmass like the continental US — 3.5 million square miles, 600 times the size of Israel. Far more credible, in my opinion, is the following scenario:

a) The introduction of EVs will happen gradually, starting with early adopters whose life styles are a good fit for electric transportation: multi-car families with an available place to charge at night, and one car primarily used to commute within a local region.

b) While this is playing itself out over a period of years, OEM production volume will be ramping, quality issues will be resolving, battery technology will improve and costs will fall. Simultaneously, we’ll see the construction of charging stations at the workplace, movie theaters, etc.

c) The replacement of all internal combustion engine-based cars and trucks (230 million in the US) will require several decades, and will happen with fast-charging (“Level 3,” high-power charging) – probably delivered using the infrastructure of filling stations.

d) In the meanwhile, Better Place will be incorporated into geographies in which it makes sense.

Having said all this, I sure wish I could afford 1/100th the PR horsepower of Agassi — a true business visionary who hasn’t overlooked what it takes to get his story told.

Related posts:

• Electric Vehicle Charging Network in London Nearly Doubled
• Gridpoint to Play Traffic Cop for Electric Vehicle Charging
• Study Projects 4.7 Million Electric Vehicle Charging Stations by 2015
• Vermont Gets Surge of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
• EV Manufacturers Got Government Money, Now They Need to Show Results

Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO of Better Place, the electric car infrastructure start-up, was named today to the Time 100, a list of the world’s most influential people.

This is the second year running that a leader of Israel’s cleantech industry has been named to the Time 100. Isaac Berzin, founder of GreenFuel Technologies and the Institute for Alternative Energy Resarch at IDC Herzliya, made the list in 2008.

Agassi was born in Ramat Gan, Israel and graduated from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Better Place has raised more than $300 million and is partnering with utilities and governments to install its electric vehicle infrastructure in Israel, Denmark, Australia, Portugal, Ontario, Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Better Place’s primary R&D center is in Israel.

Alan Salzman, CEO of VantagePoint Venture Partners, a major investor in Better Place, says that Agassi is “the closest we’ve seen to a Steve Jobs of clean tech — visionary, technologist, businessman. What’s it like working with him? Exhilarating, exhausting, challenging, gratifying. He recently turned 41. Wonder what he’ll do after transporting us to a better place?”

Agassi was also recently profiled in the New York Times Magazine.

This article originally appeared on Cleantech Investing in Israel.

Related posts:

• Electric Vehicle Charging Solutions – Where Does “Better Place” Fit?
• Shai Agassi Builds a Better Place
• Clean Tech Revolution In Need of a Green Gandhi. He May be Emerging.
• Switching an Electric Car Battery in About One Minute
• Better Place Secures $350 Million Series B Round