Shai Agassi speaks about converting entire countries to electric transportation. Part 1 of 3

[bannor99]

Better Place puts a clause in their contracts that X amount of solar or wind has to be added to the local grid - Israel is increasing solar, Australia is upping # of wind turbines. Denmark was an exception as wind already makes up a very significant %age of their electric mix

[mrpitv]

@bannor99 Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[3089280288]

What is his solution for trucks and other oversize vehicles? A whole country with no oil? I don't think so. Over 2000 products are made from oil. Even if you reduced the amount of oil used it would not reduce use down to 0.

[bannor99]

@3089280288 I've not heard Agassi address larger vehicles but there are an increasing number of diesel-electric buses and other large trucks and there are plans to use more powerful ( but harder to handle ) batteries such as Sodium-sulfur - these have good power density but, at 300 Centigrade, are deemed to be too hot for small vehicles.

[TheSwedechris]

How will the oil lobby try to make this not work?

[ericmarseille2]

Mark my words guys : YES THIS WILL WORK My own forecast : 2011 - >150k EVs 2012 - >400k EVs 2013 - >1M EVs 2014 - >3M EVs 2015 - >6M EVs 2017 - >9M EVs 2018 - >11M EVs 2019 - >15M EVs Mark those figures!

[mrpitv]

Electric cars will be part of the mix. There are problems with how the electricity is produced and there are enormous problems related to sourcing the lithium for advanced batteries and the costs to produce the power. But maybe we can shave several hundred billion off the defense dept. budget and give this technology a boost.

[no1saphead]

He didnt say how much more coal it takes to run these electric cars.

[MoDa87]

better place only uses 0 carbon energy. no carbon produced for this technology! google: better place!!

[shmudi1]

He said on many ocassions that all the energy for the electric cars will come from renewable sources: solar and wind.

[no1saphead]

still it sounds to good to be true.Have you ever charged a car battery with a solar cell. Better opt for the big one.

[Leobons]

@no1saphead Get a life!

[bannor99]

@no1saphead I did hear him say that for solar thermal ( not PV ) you need a reflecting panel roughly the size of the car ( I imagine the weight can make a considerable difference )

[mrpitv]

I have to agree that gasoline gives us the most bang for the buck and it's incredible energy punch is unequaled but it's just a problem on so many levels that we have to move on to other means of propulsion. But it's more than just a question of the motor and tailpipe it's about rethinking how our cities are configured and how we live.

[Dilbert0123]

I believe the major problem is not an infrastructure problem - the major problem is still to change the mindset why people should become engaged to change their habits. Oil prices cannot be high enough to change that - financial crisis shows how quickly people react when it affects their wallet

[kavinho]

If you have the choice to buy a cheap electric car where you know you have fuel spots everywhere and the price per mileage is much less than a similar gasoline version of that vehicle and still you choose the gasoline car, then you my friend are a true moron. I may be lazy and a creature of habit but i'm not a fool.

[Dilbert0123]

You propably did not understand my reasoning - I fully support the change for alternative fuels. I said that making consumers adapt electric cars is a matter of changing behavious - psychologically path dependence. Higher fuel prices help change that behaviour.

By the way: The habit of calling people quickly "morons" without knowing them or reading their arguments properly is just justifying calling you a bad mannered person.

[mrpitv]

He is amazing. He shows we need a public/private partnership to get the fossilized oil companies out of the way so we can kick our addiction to fossil fuels. thanks for watching.

[utahwhitewater]

YES!!!

NO PLUG NO DEAL FOR ME!

no NGV

So great. This is it. Please USA wake up and stop using fossil fuel...respect dino ansestors!

Nancy