Better Place battery scheme signs deal with UNSW

Less than 24 hours after Better Place Australia CEO Evan Thornley signed a technology-sharing deal with the University of NSW, the battery-swap scheme made page one headlines in a Sydney newspaper for a different reason.

It has been revealed that the husband of NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally, is the head of marketing and strategy for Better Place Australia -- which has been lobbying the government to support its proposed battery-swap scheme for electric cars.

The newspaper also reported that, according to company documents, Ben Keneally bought $185,000 worth of shares in Better Place Australia in October last year -- one month before his wife became the Premier of NSW.

A spokeswoman for the Premier told the paper: "To avoid any perceived conflict of interest, all briefs and meeting requests relating to Better Place or electric vehicles are referred to the Deputy Premier."

Last Friday Better Place CEO Thornley, a former Victorian Labor MP, inked a deal that could see UNSW solar power research used in future Better Place charging stations in Australia and overseas.

Thornley and the UNSW vice chancellor professor Fred Hilmer are former colleagues at McKinsey & Company, a management-consulting firm.

A statement issued jointly by the UNSW and Better Place said that the battery swap scheme will provide "charge spots and additional services" to support an EV fleet in a new on-campus solar precinct to be established by UNSW.

Meanwhile, the university said it hoped to learn more about vehicle-to-grid technology -- and find more efficient ways to use solar energy to charge electric cars.

The announcement was billed as a "major milestone in Better Place's progress toward the national rollout of an electric vehicle network".

But the UNSW was unsure exactly how many charge points would be installed; one spokesperson suggested "between two and six". And there was a bigger hurdle: the $130 million solar precinct was not due to be completed until the end of 2011.

Furthermore, the electric-powered Nissan Dualis that Thornley and Hilmer were photographed with was transported to and from the university on the back of a diesel-powered truck. Better Place's display electric vehicle is not yet registered to be driven on public roads or equipped with battery swap technology.

Nevertheless, Thornley said Better Place is still on track to roll out the introduction of its battery swap scheme and charging stations in Canberra from the end of 2011.

He said the exact locations were still commercial in confidence but the number of recharge points would be "in the hundreds" -- and they would be joined by a "small number" of battery swap points.

"We're on track," Thornley told the Carsales Network. "We've always said we're looking to roll out the network beginning in the fourth quarter of 2011.

"We're out there in discussions with site owners working closely on ... very detailed specifics, where the charge points will go and how much load that will put on the grid and where we'll get the renewable energy from.

"We are planning a significant number of charge points -- hundreds, and a small number of battery exchange stations.

"The Mitsubishi iMiev is about to go on sale, the Nissan LEAF electric car will be here by early 2012. And by 2014 most major car manufacturers will have a plug-in hybrid. We're here to serve anyone with a plug."

He said the first country to adopt Better Place battery swap stations will be Israel, the second country will be Denmark, and the third country will be Australia.

"By the end of 2013 the largest electric vehicle charge network anywhere in the world will be in Australia. We think that creates very significant opportunities for this country and that is why it is such a privilege to work with leading institutions in this country that are going to make this happen."

When asked if he still believed the claim by Better Place founder and global CEO Shai Agassi that more than half of all new cars sold in Australia by 2015 would be electric, Thornley said: "We think that Australia's entire 12 million vehicle fleet will transition from petrol to electric in the next 20 to 25 years. I'm sure other technology [such as hydrogen and extended range hybrid cars] will play a role, but ... once you have a charge network in place it's hard to see why many people would buy a hybrid instead of a full electric vehicle. Especially when the hybrid will be more expensive because it has two motors, not one."

Addressing UNSW hierarchy, technology partners and power brokers, Thornley gave his customary robust speech:

"[Better Place is] the world's leading charge network company. That probably doesn't mean much to you at the moment. But you probably have heard of our competition: they're called oil companies.

"We are not an electric-car company, we are not an electricity company. Our direct responsibility is to end the world's addiction to oil. That's the mission that our company has.

"There are going to be a lot of companies called charge networks in future. We aspire to be the leading player in that industry worldwide and the early days are promising.

"Through the middle of a Global Financial Crisis, our company has raised a little over $USD700 milion in venture capital in the last two years. That is probably the leading start up technology company in the world right now."

Thornley used the speech to repeat earlier comparisons between the whole-life cost of petrol cars versus electric cars.

"When [an Australian motorist] buys a new car, they get a $35,000 asset and a $60,000 liability. The most expensive thing in the car is not the engine, it's the petrol.

"On today's economics we can replace that $60,000 liability with a $35,000 liability; $17,000 for a lithium-ion phosphate battery that's fully recyclable and non toxic, $15,000 worth of renewable electricity for the rest of the vehicle's life and about $3000 worth of amortised charge network infrastructure."

The memorandum of understanding signed by Thornley and Hilmer on behalf of Better Place and the UNSW will see both organisations work together on solar research, Thornley said.

The UNSW is a world leader in solar photovoltaics, the technology that converts solar radiation into electric current.

The Dean of Engineering at the UNSW, Graham Davies, said in the latest round of Federal Government grants, the university had received 27 grants, the best of any Australian university -- and that engineering earned 17 of those grants.

The first 40 pure electric vehicles for public sale to Australian customers, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, are due to arrive on August 5, with more to follow later in the year.

They will be leased at a cost of $1740 per month over a three-year term, which adds up to a total cost of $62,640. At the end of the lease, the cars are returned to Mitsubishi.

Meanwhile, Nissan Australia executives have hinted that the pure electric hatchback called the LEAF -- about the size of a Nissan Pulsar -- will have a more affordable price close to $35,000 when it goes on sale locally in 2012.

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