Better Place looks to Fiat-Chrysler for its next partnership
Dodge Circuit EV concept - Click above for a high-res gallery
After Better Place launched a couple of years ago, it quickly announced a partnership with the Renault-Nissan alliance for a network of charging and battery exchange stations in Israel and, later, Denmark. These were to be used by electric cars from the Franco-Japanese automakers. Since then, Nissan and Renault have announced a number of cooperative agreements with various governments and utilities around the world to support the build out of a charging infrastructure. Better Place and its battery swap plans have been noticeably absent from most of those announcements. Aside from the recent video demonstration of a battery exchange, no other automaker has expressed interest in the concept.
Better Place is apparently now talking with Fiat since its link up with Chrysler. Chrysler is in the advanced stages of development of several electric vehicles and Better Place would apparently like to sign them up. However, Lou Rhodes, the president of ENVI, the group within Chrysler developing the electric vehicles does not see battery exchange as viable in the near term, because battery technology is still changing too quickly to standardize anything.
Better Place may want to focus on just building networks of public charging stations and shelve the exchange stations for now until battery technology does stabilize. Thanks to Sam (a different one) for the tip!
Gallery: SAE 2009: Dodge Circuit quick drive
[Source: Globes.Co.Il]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lad 9:41AM (6/15/2009)
"the group within Chrysler developing the electric vehicles does not see battery exchange as viable in the near term, because battery technology is still changing too quickly to standardize anything."
Wrong logic: You need to standardize the batteries to make electric cars viable. You need to build the car around that standard, including the charge stations, plugs, battery size and shape. We know many things about large format Li ion batteries and the best place to install them in the car, i.e., low and centered in the car. Additionally, these standards can be changed as the industry changes. Lets get on with getting the cars safe enough and standard enough to mass produce them and get them on the road. Auto companies can delay for months and years, if they won't take a chance.
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Nick P. 10:50AM (6/15/2009)
Exactly. This is proof that Chrysler doesn't really have an EV strategy. They are not actively looking at helping define and implement standards. They just want to wait to see how things are going.
An electric minivan would have been more useful than trying to reproduce the Tesla formula.
Snoopy 5:29PM (6/15/2009)
I certainly agree, but it is a valid viewpoint to say that there is no standard. It could also be an admission by Chrysler that it isn't in a position to push a new standard.
It would be nice to see more manufacturers working with Better Place though.
DasBoese 1:18AM (6/16/2009)
The problem is, battery swapping is also not viable in the long term, as within 10 to 20 years batteries will evolve to a point where it's just not necessary any more.
I don't agree on batteries needing to be standardized for EV success, either. An EV is a highly integrated system, and the best performance will only be possible with battery packs tailored to the specific vehicle.
Standardization of individual cells, however, is another matter, that's quite a good idea.
Snoopy 4:22PM (6/25/2009)
Well, there was that MIT research study done back in March about the manufacturing process of lithium ion batteries (http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/battery-material-0311.html).
But we'll have to see what happens with battery manufacturing over the next few years. EEStor, if they aren't just in the hype manufacturing business, could also have a game changer with the EESU.
krish 4:27AM (6/16/2009)
Yes!
Better Place has standart for battery packs and for swapping process.
May Chrysler note their standart and do their vehicles.
From words to deeds!
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FIAT 2 America 4:52PM (7/06/2009)
FIAT is actually sending 4 versions of the 500 to The States- great news, the US market sure could use the variety- I drove one of these things in Greece… nice car, and a lot of fun!
Viva FIAT!
http://fiat2america.blogspot.com
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