A day after presenting its electric car recharging station in Tel Aviv, Better Place reports that it has joined an electric car pilot program in Japan. The pilot is headed by Japan's ministry of the environment.
The program will involve the electric cars and recharging infrastructure. Better Place will build a battery exchange station for the electric cars.
The pilot will last for 3-6 months, beginning in January 2009. The city of Yokohama will be the first in the Japanese project to use the Better Place model of exchanging a depleted electric vehicle battery for a fully charged one.
The trial will involve Japanese auto makers such as Subaru car maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., and Better Place will essentially be the only foreign partner in the deal.
“Better Place is honored to participate in this ground-breaking program in a country with so much auto-manufacturing expertise and history,” said Better Place founder and CEO Shai Agassi. “We look forward to joining Subaru and other auto manufacturers in the project and demonstrating the feasibility of electric cars with swappable batteries to the rest of the industry."
Better Place Japan will be led by Kiyotaka Fujii, the former president and CEO of retailer Louis Vuitton’s Japanese subsidiary and SAP Japan.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 9, 2008
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