Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Project Better Place to launch pilot program in Denmark?

The Danish government will reportedly announce soon that it is bringing Shai Agassi's electric car venture, Project Better Place, to Denmark.

Initially, Denmark will probably launch a pilot program in Copenhagen and other locations to examine the feasibility of the project. It may also be possible to harness the country's wind power infrastructure for Project Better Place's electric car recharge grid.

This according to an article today in "Globes".

Shai Agassi, the Founder and CEO of Project Better Place, is apparently in Denmark on March 26-27 as a member of the Copenhagen Climate Council. This group of world leaders in business, science, and public policy is developing a set of "activities and initiatives that can build support by international business for a new climate treaty, the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which will be negotiated at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in 2009."

Agassi mentioned the possibility of a demonstration project in Denmark in an interesting essay on his vision for the future of transportation, which was published last month.

According to Agassi, although it is unlikely that the necessary conditions for deployment of a massive electric recharge grid in the United States will be created in next 18 months, "in the mid to long term there is a very strong possibility that with an understanding of the potential stakes, and successful demonstration projects in other countries, such as Israel or Denmark, the US government will spring to action."

In January, Better Place announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Renault-Nissan to build the world's first Electric Recharge Grid Operator (ERGO) model for clean transportation in Israel. In March, the company established Israel as its primary research and development center to help develop the technology roadmap for mass deployment of electric vehicles.