• Home
• Reviews
• News
• Downloads
• CNET TV

About me

My posting summary

1 to 1 of 1

My comments

• While this idea has a chance of workin in relatively small countries and places with limited areas (Israel, Denmark, Hawaii) - it seems totally impractical for larger areas, including California. The general public is naturally more inclined to go with something that's faster, easier or offers them the best options - Better Place is lacking these qualities for large populations in large countries.
  
  The majority of the people will not want to constantly have to charge their cars or frequently go to a power station to get their battery swapped out. If you drive 30 miles to work in California - that's a 60 mile roundtrip per day, not including the common sidetrips for shopping, etc... I'm not sure what the range is for the two vehicles they make, but if you have to recharge every 2 or 3 days and you can ONLY go to charging station to swap out a battery - that's a hassle - one which most people will not want. Yes, they can can charge their cars at home as well, but not everyone has convenient access to an outlet that will reach the car (if you live in apt. complex or if you need to park on the street or if you don't or can't park in your garage. Also, who wants to have to remember to charge your car every couple of days - and if you forget the night before you're really up a creek in the morning when you have to go to work.
  
  Then the cars themselves are an issue - you need to have a large enough variety for a large proportion of people to consider them - when you have numerous car options that run on gas or "2" that work with Better Place - most people will hesitate at sacrificing a vehicle which may be more ideal for their needs just to get an electric car. Of course, there's also the risk factor - if Better Place doesn't take off, you just spent a lot of money on a car which is almost obsolete (except that you can charge it at home until the battery is no longer holding a charge). Performance and range of the vehicle is also a concern for large places - it will take Better Place many years (<10+ years) and billions of dollars in California *alone* to match the convenience of having gas stations everywhere - and if you want to drive out of state where Better Place doesn't yet have any power stations, you're stuck and can't go on a long drive.
  
  Considering all the positive feedback above, I realize there are people who are going to be defensive about my points, but these are all realistic and practical issues which work against Better Place. They're trying to go from one extreme (totally gas powered car infrastructure) to the opposite (completely electric powered car infrastructure) - it's too big a leap. It can work in smaller areas/countries, if some of the other issues I noted above can be addresses (such as people's desire and sometimes need for variety). But this is a lousy idea for a large area/country and as far as I can tell, a really dumb thing for California to take on.
  
  One possible better approach is to go with hybrids for now and gradually build an electric based infrastructure and wait until alternative technology has matured that can handle power storage better (but this has its own risks - what if the solution in the end is not based on electricity, but something like hydrogen?). The fact is, gas is extremely efficient compared to all other viable options right now and that's why no other alternative has been jumped on and pursued. Doing something just because you want or feel the need to isn't going to fix the issue - just wastes lots of money. If there isn't a good option yet, then it's necessary to continue researching technology until one is developed - that's a much better way to spend the money at this point. In reply to: "Hawaii unveils plans for Better Place"

  December 4, 2008

  1 reply