DRIVE SWITCH GO - View the future of driving by Better Place

[wullebulle123]

that switching station looks so fancy

[juicyemad]

Мегакруто. Долой углеводороды!

[musicman1770]

Love this...except they have got to re-design the paint job that looks like "bird poop" on the side door. Awful...sorry Shai.

[btrplc]

@musicman1770 thank you for your feedback. We have totally redesigned the car since then. If you're on Facebook, like our Better Place fan page where you can see all the updated pictures and be in touch with us.

[Dardedar1]

"Wireless power" for heavy equipment, doesn't exist.

"Kbprojet" passes along piles of horseshit he has heard about electric cars. He's just another of mindless tools who, for whatever reason (perhaps guilt about driving a tank that get 10mpg), likes to pass around comforting lies. Used batteries from E cars are recycled, completely. Prius actually hunts them down. And they have a value. My Prius will save about 180k tons of CO2 from being released. 5 min. to fill up too long? You're an idiot.

[gordonjcp]

@Dardedar1 Your Prius is still a gas-guzzler though. How can you justify driving a small car that only gets 40mpg? My van gets that sort of fuel economy.

Ditch the hybrids, get a diesel.

[Dardedar1]

@gordonjcp The Prius is considered mid-size. My Prius gets 50mpg and is 24% paid for in saved fuel cost in just 2 years (compared to my previous 25 mpg vehicle). Diesel mileage cannot be compared straight across as it is more energy dense. In eight years or less, my Prius is free, just from saved fuel.

[innomind]

What if all roads/highways were equipped with wireless power? All cars would "tune" to the frequency of the wireless power with monthly subscription, just like your home electric bill. There still will be a battery in the car (recharged via wireless power), albeit a small one, for driving into the garage or places that are remote from main roads.

[Dardedar1]

@innomind You can't send very much power over wireless. Completely insignificant.

[kbprojekty]

Wow that's great. Used batteries from electric cars are a mess, and an industrustry still doesn't know what to do with them. Most of them are highly toxic and are probably dumped somewhere in Africa. Also, their costs of production and co2 emissions during production are a lot higher than traditional cars. So yeah, hurray for the green future of electric cars! Changing batteries is dumb too. 5 minues is way too long, cars need changing every 1-4 hours, too much dependence on infrastructure also.

[Dardedar1]

@kbprojekty Nothing you say here is true. The batteries in my Prius weight 115lbs and could fit in a backpack. They are not toxic and will be completely recycled. You don't know what you are talking about.

[MrRiggyRiggs]

it just seems like to much, id rather have a plug in station at home or something that doesnt need to be replaced..just seems like a waste, like a trickle charger type deal

[hapt1K]

@MrRiggyRiggs you obviously didn't watch the entire video

[mastersquash1]

@MrRiggyRiggs You're right, charging at home and having a realistic range in the 300km range is already possible with 'pemanent' batteries. I think the EV1 had almost 400km range/charge, and you could just charge at home or work daily. Judging purely by size I would say that this batter wouldn't have more that 150 km range.

[Dardedar1]

@mastersquash1

The EV1's range was less than 1/3 of what you claim.

[mastersquash1]

@mastersquash1 I realized after I posted. I was thinking of another vehicle (Tesla Roadser) still mileage isn't quite as high...but much better than EV1

[btrplc]

@MrRiggyRiggs Here's the beauty of it all. We actually go to your home and set you up with a charge spot. This way, when you get home you can just plug in your car and come back to a full battery.

The Battery Switch Stations are for when you are going on a long trip. Instead of pulling over and charging your cars, you can just pull into the station, switch your battery, and continue driving. Drive-Switch-Go

[merlinfromberlin37]

this idea is genius.

[sillada]

this idea is a waste of time. batteries are fucked. hydrogen cars are the future.

[mooo90]

@sillada You're right. Might as well just give the fuck up. Throw the towel in, just like we should've done for the last 100 years of technological advancement. Fuck the Internet, fuck wind power, fuck internal combustion engines, fuck solar energy and fuck geothermal energy! We should've said "those ideas are a waste of time let's stick with coal and wood burning stoves." Who needs the betterment of society anyway? Not me!

[Dardedar1]

@sillada All hydrogen cars are electric cars. Hydrogen is used, effectively, as a storage medium for energy (like a battery). Hydrogen is never a net source of energy and has to be made, compressed and stored. Thus the hydrogen process of storing energy wastes a lot of energy.

[forrenzt3]

1:43 oh yeah wash that underside baby

[AtheistKharm]

I like the idea, but they are going to have a hard time getting this to take off if people have to drive 20 miles out of their way to fill up.

[mphello]

@AtheistKharm No different than today, where people have to drive 20 miles out of their way for a gas station.

[AtheistKharm]

@mphello people have live in the most remote parts of America might have to drive 20 miles to get gas. No doubt they probably make up a fraction of a percent of the US population. This technology would take off in cities and going 20+ miles can be very tedious.

[patilsaurabhr]

What are charges to switch battery once? Will there be enough number of stations? Is there an option for backup battery in case my main battery dies?

[arturslav]

and if the battery is gone on your way to Nunavut, u're f@cked dragging 500000lb to a station:)

[sk8rked]

@arturslav ....WHO WOULD DRIVE THERE

[ItsNeuroscience]

@arturslav it's the exact same situation if you run out of gas......

[Strider404]

What if you run out of gas in the middle of nowhere? That battery switch station is ideal however I foresee a world of problems in trying to change that independently or prior to a long trip where you calculated energy reserves won't make the next switch in time. Perhaps a better location like the side of the trunk or multiple battery sections for longer trips. 

[btrplc]

@Strider404 You bring up a great point. We thought about that and came up with a solution. We have an in car system named Oscar. You are always connected with our customer service. If you are running low, a customer service rep will redirect you to the closest Battery Switch Station so you won't get stuck in middle of the road.

How will they redirect you? Through the GPS that is built in to the Oscar system.

[y2kobe87]

@btrplc What if you do somehow run out of juice? Does Better Place dispatch a mobile charging vehicle? (seems like a decent solution for a worst case scenario)

[leoncariz]

This is the new motto, "save the world". You guys are not saving the world, you are creating a new world where you are the new tyrannies of money. Why are you not investing energy sources that have been already invented where you charge once and it lasts for months? You wouldn't bring it to public because it won't generate re-occurring revenue like gasoline, electricity and hydrogen and it won't make you the next big billionaire in the world.

[symnzXx]

@leoncariz relax bro, we will take these electric cars and fit them with our own means of generating energy once they become available. the death of money will happen soon enough

[Ontheroadinhrds]

Great concept - like the idea of a "fixed cost" that isn't at the mercy of current world events. Very innovative and the entrepreneurial!!!!

[proto57]

Great concept... I had the same idea about 7 or 8 years ago, and three years ago made a video of it: watch?v=FTWd-gwq2uM I agree it is the way to go, and as I say in my video, and on the linked page, it solves many of the drawbacks to electric car ownership and use. Best of luck... Rich.

[mbonfantiful]

@proto57 OH MY GOD. They stole your idea.

[wullebulle123]

switching batteries looks just way too fancy regarding standardisation and reliability - I hope so much it works

[Ultra4]

@chuqtas H2 fueling station is like petrol stations yes, witch is bad, but H2 is becoming accessible by home production, generate your own H2 from the photovoltaics in your roof, google Dan Nocera.

[Ultra4]

It's great to see this, still i thinks it's not the ultimate solution. It's much better to have an electric vehicle with an hydrogen fuel cell for autonomy. You can carry around many more miles in H2, and it's simple to refill / drive-swich'the'H2'tank-go. The difference is replaceable batteries rely on the grid, and H2 only gets really cheaper and practical when made at home from the excess of your photovoltaic on your roof (the future is in micro-generation of clean electricity)

[R4t10n4L]

@Ultra4 I prefer electric over H2 but, whatever solution eventually wins, I hope the concept of Vehicle-2-Grid becomes ubiquitous. With millions of portable programmable, networked powerplants on the roads, disastrous power blackouts may one day be a thing of the past.

[Ultra4]

@R4t10n4L I don't want one or the other to win, i want the best ration of batteries/H2 tank. Let the studies roll. Pure H2 has little regenerative breaking and carries a compressed gas, pure battery is heavy and low autonomy, so a hybrid is a no-brainer. As long as both electricity and H2 are made from clean energy

[R4t10n4L]

@Ultra4 I'm not sure if that's a good mix with current tech as both those options take up considerable space. I think a hybrid electric is really only worthwhile if you're a long way from somewhere you can put a recharge spot or a switch station. For about 3 times what Americans spend weekly on gasoline, you could put a switch station, and the infrastructure to support it within 5 miles of 75% of the driving population.

[Ultra4]

@R4t10n4L a fuell cell, like the motor, are both very small, what takes up lots of space are both an H2 tank or a battery, an H2 vehicle is an electric car with tiny battery and makes electricity from H2 as it goes. I think finding an optimal size for battery and H2 tank is worth studding. Problem is they see each other as rivals.

[R4t10n4L]

@Ultra4 At the present level of tech, I don't think that having both in a family car or subcompact is worth it - too much bulk and cost. so at that level, they are rivals. I'm very much in favor of fuel cells for larger or stationary deployments. It would be good to see some heavy trucks / tractor-trailers using fuel-cells, perhaps in combination with the forthcoming Sumitomo low-temp sodium-sulfur battery

[Ultra4]

@R4t10n4L good response, i'll look into Sumitomo low-temp sodium-sulfur battery, but i had heard superconductors might be the future replacement for car batteries.

[R4t10n4L]

@Ultra4 Perhaps you mean ultracapacitors, not superconductors. EEstor claimed to have a breakthrough some years ago but have fallen silent and it's doubtful we'll see anything out of them in the near future.

[Ultra4]

@R4t10n4L Yes, thank you i stand corrected :)

[spuzzmacher]

Thank you! I've been blabbering on to anyone who will listen for 20 years that THIS + electrics + the inevitable combination of microhydro networks, solar, wind, wave, thermal, & nuclear, are the solution for 90% of our transportation energy usage.

[R4t10n4L]

@spuzzmacher Cheap, plentiful oil make too many of us deaf. It's a shame that America didn't rise to Jimmy Carter's challenge, way back then. He might have been wrong on nuclear but he was right on getting of oil. If North America had picked up the gauntlet, we wouldn't be beholden to the Saudis and the Chinese to this extent.

[jyurow0]

The prospects of obtaining more information on the cost of constructing battery-switch stations may have improved. 2300 of these are to be built in China. This effort will add data and the experience may lead to streamlined methods of construction.

[jyurow0]

@JohnCBriggs is partially correct when he says, "any advances in battery technology will be compatible with the car you already own by only making it the same shape." As I understand it, the Better Place battery-switch solution works for a wide range of battery formats. It does seem essential, however, that the battery be hooked under the car to be accessible and not bolted onto the chassis or placed under the hood.

[billypuntove]

It's important to clarify that most people will probably not always need to switch batteries. In the well-thought plan from BetterPlace people will have charging stations at their home, work, retail areas and public parking. It is, however, important to have the options in case of long trips or long commutes for those who have it. Especially those will benefit from discounted prices on cars since they will be committing to more miles/km a months that the average, short commute drivers.

[JohnCBriggs]

It would be nice to have some actual data. For example, if you buy an Better Place EV versus a non Better Place EV, which one is less expensive. Here in American, no one is following the Better Place battery swapping model.

[billypuntove]

@JohnCBriggs if you watch keynotes by Shai Agassi you can see that their plan is to offer their service (for those who want it that way) the way phone companies offer theirs. If you commit to so many miles/km a months, for so and so years, the price of the car drops. To a point that if you drive a lot, the plan of your choosing may be one that allows the car to be free. Remember the car is very cheap because you don't own a battery, BetterPlace does. Batter is half the price of a car.

[billypuntove]

@JohnCBriggs no that gives you any data yet because it is only now being deployed in Israel and soon in Denmark but another advantages of car companies adopting the system is, for the consumer, that since you do not own the battery, any advances in battery technology will be compatible with the car you already own by only making it the same shape. This is HUGE as you are not stuck with the worse car when the better technology arrives a year later as consumers are accustomed to so far.

[appletonp]

The sun shines for free, so US territory has sufficient energy to convert into batteries (AONE, others) domestically produced through all technical improvements. From the ownership side, not owning a battery which is expensive and depreciating in two ways, makes EV entry affordable and a market that more automakers than Renault will want to move into.

[billypuntove]

@appletonp yes. However, you do have to take into consideration that, even is sun IS free, the infrastructure to convert the solar power into current is not, and huge investment from both government and the private sector need to be made so that said infrastructure is in place before even the first car is on the road. That being said, number do look in favor of BetterPlace since it's been studied that the cost of placing this is equal to less than what the US spends in oil in ONE month.

[Renzouz]

Such a pioneer...

Such a joy to see that this revolution is on...