Michigan governor meets with Shai Agassi and Better Place in Israel
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Michigan's Governor, Jennifer Granholm, is currently on an overseas trip to try and boost Michigan's economy. It's a trip she's cut in half from its scheduled length because of the automaker bailout discussion here in America. Still, while she was in Israel, Granholm took a peek at the Better Place model and met with Better Place's CEO, Shai Agassi. Australia, Israel and Denmark are officially on board with Better Place, and San Francisco and Japan are on the short list of potential new locations. Will Michigan join them? On her blog, Granholm wrote, "We talked about future partnerships that might be viable for Michigan, and in Michigan, we know that new energy means new jobs." Read into that what you will.
[Source: Better Place, Jennifer Granholm]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Paul 2:57PM (11/18/2008)
"..and in Michigan, we know that new energy means new jobs."
Jennifer Granholm, quite possibly the worst governor in America, is the last person who should be talking about new jobs.
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DH 6:11PM (11/18/2008)
Better Place’s (”BP”) idea is the most foolish business plan ever. It is premised on the assumption that battery technology will not evolve and improve. Battery technology is technology. With time, technology gets better and costs less. Look at processors, LCD TVs, etc. Investment into battery technology has been growing exponentially since the advent of laptops, cellphones, PDAs. Batteries can already get us 100 miles. How much improvement do we need before BP’s “recharging/swapping stations” become redundant? BP plans to have it’s infrastructure set up in Australia by 2012. As per normal delays, that means it will actually be set up by 2014-16. There are no plans for the USA. So, at the earliest, infrastructure would be set up here by 2018. That is a decade away. Where do you think battery technology will be in a decade? It in all likelihood, it will be in a place that makes BP’s charging stations redundant before they even get truly started. This is not to mention that plug-in electric-gas hybrids would make all that BP infrastructure redundant. All BP is trying to do is get into the market early to create a electricity network monopoly. When consumers realize that their batteries are good enough so that the network is redundant, BP’s monopoly will disintegrate.
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Dude 7:12PM (11/18/2008)
DH,
You are very right. I think plug in hybrids already make the BP model obsolete. IMO BP is a waste of resources.
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noz 9:37PM (11/18/2008)
Isn't it already enough that AIPAC has enough control over US policy? Now we need Israel to take over our industries from inside too?
Great.
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JDredd 4:06PM (11/19/2008)
Noz, don't you have a Bund meeting to go to?
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