Seattle, WA – Electric cars are a great idea that’s been around since the birth of the automobile. But 100 years ago they delivered about 100 mile range per charge and took 8 hours to recharge. Today’s electric cars have about 100 mile range and still take 8 hours to recharge. To make electric cars a wide spread consumer reality will require battery breakthroughs and an infrastructure that allows periodic charging and maybe a novel idea – battery swaps. Shai Agassi explains his vision of an electric car future will make the world a “Better Place.”
Agassi spoke as part of the “Beyond Oil” conference held in Seattle, Washington last September. Sponsored by the Discovery Institute’s offshoot, the Cascadia Foundation, the conference brought together a who’s who of the players who are working to get the world off oil.
Agassi has teamed up with Nisssan to build launch his vision in Israel. Both Agassi and Nissan'a Carlos Ghosn are committed to putting fleets of electric cars on the road in the near term. They believe this will only be possible by creating public/private partnerships with governments who will build the necssary infrastructure for charging stations and establish tax incentives that will make owning an electric car an easy choice.
Surprisingly there were no oil company or car company executives at the conference. Politicians, scientists, activists, non-governmental organizations, a retired Admiral and ex-Director of the CIA joined the discussions at the two-day event that sought to be a forum for discussion across disciplines.
We’ll post some of the clips from the speakers and look forward to hearing your thoughts on these subjects.
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