2011年1月6日星期四
2010年12月21日星期二
Better Place and Renault Delivering 115,000 Electric Cars in 2011
Electric automobile manufacturer Better Place has scored its latest coup: A deal with Renault to deliver 100,000+ electric cars to Danish and Israeli consumers.
But this plan is no less audacious than any of the others dreamt up by Shai Agassi. The founder of the Israeli-American company Better Place is already unveiling a nationwide network of electric car battery swap stations and repowering centers in his native Israel. By 2020, the small Middle Eastern country will have an electric car infrastructure so extensive that power docks will be available at most gas stations, train stations and mall parking lots. A smaller-scale project is already underway in Denmark.
On October 1, 2011, the largest electric car rollout in history--complete with charging stations and battery exchanges--will take place in the Middle East and Europe. Better Place and Renault, who have a long working relationship, will make 115,000 automobiles available to the public in Denmark and Israel. According to a presentation given to Deutsche Bank, the release will also include a joint partnership with General Electric.
Bringing automobiles to market has always been the weak point for all vendors of electric cars. Better Place announced earlier this month that their deal with Renault for the Israeli and Danish markets was finalized. Under the conditions of the agreement, Better Place has agreed to purchase 115,000 Renault Fluence Z.E. Electric sedans. The automobiles are manufactured in Bursa, Turkey and 660 preproduction units have already been unveiled. A separate electric compact model may also be placed on the Israeli and Danish markets. While traveling at or below the speed limit, the Renault Fluence is able to travel for approximately 110 miles before needing a charge.
This will be a challenge for Better Place. While the capabilities of the Renault Fluence are far and away better than those of earlier electric cars, the industry is still in its infancy. Skeptics will note that going over the speed limit and simply being stuck in traffic both put a major dent in battery life. Additional car batteries are unwieldy and impractical to keep in automobiles, especially in Denmark and Israel where car models have traditionally been on the small side.
Another challenge for Better Place will be the performance of the Renault Fluence. The automobile takes quite some time to recharge if one of Better Place's battery-exchange centers are not easily available: recharging a car using a home electric supply takes between six and eight hours, while the recharging centers Agassi has unveiled still require a solid half-hour to recharge a car to maximum capacity.
But this plan is no less audacious than any of the others dreamt up by Shai Agassi. The founder of the Israeli-American company Better Place is already unveiling a nationwide network of electric car battery swap stations and repowering centers in his native Israel. By 2020, the small Middle Eastern country will have an electric car infrastructure so extensive that power docks will be available at most gas stations, train stations and mall parking lots. A smaller-scale project is already underway in Denmark.
Better Place's mechanism for gas stations to switch out car batteries is rather ingenious: The extremely heavy batteries--which weigh approximately 550 pounds each--are swapped out via a robotic mechanism that slides under the car, extracts the old battery and inserts a new one. According to Better Place, the mechanism was adapted from the Israeli Air Forces' procedure for lifting missiles in and out and fighter planes.
Fast Company has written extensively about Agassi in the past. After all, Better Place's plan hits most of the sweet spots when it comes to technology coverage: Agassi is offering an ingenious, ecologically friendly product at a price point that, if done correctly, has the potential to create a massive new market.
Over the past few years, Better Place has recently unveiled large scale networks in Denmark and Japan. Dong Energy, Denmark's largest utility company, signed a massive deal with Better Place enhanced by a separate Danish government agreement to offer a $40,000 tax break on each new electric car purchased and a refueling network based around train station parking lots (Dansk). In Tokyo, Better Place has embarked on another project to create switchable-battery electric taxis.
In Israel, Better Place opened a visitors' center where guests make reservations online (עברית) and get a 90 minute introduction (and, let's be frank, sales pitch) for their electric car. If guests have a drivers license, they can even take one of the cars for a spin. But the one thing they cannot do at the visitors' center is to purchase a car--or even find out where that can be done. Customers are allegedly simply told, "next year."
Within Israel, Better Place has officially registered with the influential Motor Vehicles Importers Association lobby and secured import licenses from the Ministry of Transport. Israeli consumers seeking to purchase electric cars will buy them directly through Better Place and not from Renault.
An unidentified source gave a quote to Israeli business newspaper Globes that implies local car dealers may attempt to sabotage the nascent electric car industry in Israel:
“Better Place's joining the association is like a Trojan Horse. Membership in the association will allow Better Place to obtain early information and prevent measures by regular car importers to foil or delay the deployment of electric cars in Israel, as well as facilitate the venture with the regulators.”
But for Better Place, the biggest challenges right now are price point and expansion into larger-size countries. Price point is a problem: Despite deals with multiple nations, the consumer price for an electric car compatible with Better Place's product system is still unknown. An even larger problem is what will be done for countries where longer car rides are the norm. Denmark and Israel are both extremely small states; if Better Place hopes to make inroads in France and Great Britain--let alone the United States, their infrastructure will have to be proven in these pilot areas first.
Samyang Optics发布ZAP Jonway电动越野车
韩国首尔2010年7月15日电，电动车行业先锋 ZAP (OTC Bulletin Board: ZAAP) 和浙江永源汽车有限公司 (Zhejiang Jonway Automobile Co. Ltd.) 向韩国分销合作伙伴 Samyang Optics (Kospi: 008080.KSE) 交付首款电动出租车，该款出租车由 ZAP 和永源的中国合资企业 ZAP Jonway 生产。数辆新的 ZAP 电动车将于2010年7月14日至16日在首尔 Coex 会展中心举办的电动汽车工程技术博览会 EV KOREA 上展出。
Samyang Optics 和 ZAP Jonway 将展示他们计划投放韩国的新电动车 (EVs)。ZAP Taxi 将展出，这是一款以永源 A380 为基础，由 ZAP 设计和整合电传动系统的电动越野车。Alias 也将进行展示，这是一款由 ZAP 设计的具有未来前瞻性的电动车，并进入 Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE 的决赛，决赛将于7月19日至29日举行，100MPG 或能量相当汽车将参与角逐。ZAPPY3 个人电动运输车将奔驰于展会内外。
作为政府推动电动汽车商业化的一部分，Samyang Optics 和 ZAP Jonway 成立商业合伙企业在韩国分销电动汽车，预计到2015年将占有10%的全球零排放插电式汽车市场，并计划到2020年旗下所有电动汽车占据全国小型汽车销售的10%。
Samyang Optics 和 ZAP Jonway 是 EV KOREA 的官方赞助商，韩国知识经济部 (Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy)、Presidential Committee on Green Growth（总统绿色发展委员会）、首尔市政府 (Seoul Metropolitan Government)、韩国交通研究院 (Korea Transport Institute)、韩国电子与通信研究院 (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)、韩国电子技术研究所 (Korea Electronics Technology Institute Korea)、韩国汽车研究院 (Automotive Research Institute)、韩国电动汽车行业协会 (Korea Electric Vehicle Industry Association) 等机构也对该展会提供支持。
创立 EV KOREA 是为了通过汇集所有全球电动汽车市场的主要厂商来迎合人们对电动汽车与日俱增的兴趣。该项活动目前正与 New & Renewable Energy and Battery Expo 2010（2010年新可再生能源和电池博览会）同时举行，以创造更多的协同效应和实现业务最大化。EV Korea 预期参展商将超过100家，与会者将多达25,000人。
ZAP 是全球历史最悠久且经验最丰富的电动车供应商之一。自1994年以来，该公司已经在逾75个国家售出超过11.7万辆各类电动车。
American Car Company Focuses On Shanghai's Green Transportation
U.S.-based electric car firm Zap is working in Shanghai to develop eco-friendly transportation.
Zap has reportedly begun project planning with the government of Shanghai's Yangpu District to develop a Green City Zone in Yangpu's downtown area. Based on a memorandum of understanding partnership agreement signed in San Francisco on November 19, 2010, the project plans to reduce carbon emissions in Yangpu using electric vehicles for its public transportation while installing an EV charging infrastructure, battery swap-out stations and maintenance support centers.
The partnership agreement with Yangpu government is reportedly a direct result of Governor Schwarzenegger's trade delegation to Shanghai in September this year, and it is one of the first formal initiatives between the two regions.
According to the framework of the partnership, Zap will provide an electric car charging infrastructure, battery swap out stations, as well as EV maintenance and repair depots in Yangpu. Zap will work with Yangpu's government agencies, local universities, and private corporations on plans to further expand zero-emission transportation in the city.
To execute these plans and better access the Chinese market, Zap Jonway will open its EV sales and operations office in the Yangpu District and plans to establish its research and development engineering center in the district to take advantage of the university communities.
Zap has reportedly begun project planning with the government of Shanghai's Yangpu District to develop a Green City Zone in Yangpu's downtown area. Based on a memorandum of understanding partnership agreement signed in San Francisco on November 19, 2010, the project plans to reduce carbon emissions in Yangpu using electric vehicles for its public transportation while installing an EV charging infrastructure, battery swap-out stations and maintenance support centers.
The partnership agreement with Yangpu government is reportedly a direct result of Governor Schwarzenegger's trade delegation to Shanghai in September this year, and it is one of the first formal initiatives between the two regions.
According to the framework of the partnership, Zap will provide an electric car charging infrastructure, battery swap out stations, as well as EV maintenance and repair depots in Yangpu. Zap will work with Yangpu's government agencies, local universities, and private corporations on plans to further expand zero-emission transportation in the city.
To execute these plans and better access the Chinese market, Zap Jonway will open its EV sales and operations office in the Yangpu District and plans to establish its research and development engineering center in the district to take advantage of the university communities.
Zap merges with China's Jonway Automobile
We'll level with you on this one. We all know that Zap has seemingly had some, ahem... interesting business practices in the past. And we're not really sure what to make of this latest news, either. With that in mind, here's the main point: Zap has merged (or bought, depending on your viewpoint) with China's Jonway Automobile. There are three more bullet points to consider...
One: Zap has had seven straight annual losses, last making a profit in 2002. Two: Zap is reportedly paying over $29 million in cash that was apparently privately financed through unknown European sources along with 31.5 million shares in Zap... which were newly issues specifically for this transaction. Three: The Chinese authorities have yet to approve of the deal.
With all that out of the way, assuming all goes according to plan, Zap says it wants to offer an electric version of Jonway's A380 SUV for use as a taxi in China. It will reportedly cost around $25,000 and have seating for five. No word on range.
Jonway apparently operates 500 dealerships in China and just completed a new plant with 3.6 million square feet of space. A few months back, Zap and Jonway announced plans to have the three-wheeled Alias built in China. So... those are the facts, at least as best we can figure. See the press release after the break.
the date to popularize electric vehicle(电动汽车何日才能普及)?
Was an example of what lies ahead: General from the 80's last century of the new basic R & D energy vehicles, and regardless of the cost, resulting in the traditional automotive technology behind a lot of money invested in new energy technologies in the last but Dragon become useless in the art, business therefore bear a heavy burden, and finally had to end in bankruptcy. Does not negate the general experience of the strategic significance of electric vehicles, but warned us: at the right time to do the right thing, not only for everyone, but also to enterprises.
曾经的例子就摆在面前：通用从上世纪80年代开始对新能源汽车进行基础性研发，且不计成本，导致其在传统汽车技术方面的落后，而投入大量资金从事的新能源技术，最后却变成了无用武之地的屠龙之术，企业因此背负了沉重包袱，最后不得不以破产收场。
通用的经历并不是否定电动车的战略意义，而是在警告我们：在正确的时候做正确的事，不仅适用于每个人，也适用于企业。
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