Electric Vehicles without mileage restrictions are here NOW. Well, no, not exactly.

Okay so you say that they don’t go very far between fill-ups. They are hazardous in an accident. They require tons of maintenance. You are absolutely correct. Gasoline and diesel vehicles are a horrible way to get around. Now throw in that they are noisy, smelly, enemies of the environment and you start to get the real picture.

The internal combustion engine hasn’t changed in the 100 plus years that it has had to rule the planet. The only thing that has changed is the way the emissions are gathered at the ass end. In fact the emission controls are a big part of the intricacy and cost of a vehicle. It plays a big part in the gas mileage and this influences the size of the vehicle versus cost, etc., etc. State emission programs have also been added at a considerable cost to make sure that these systems work properly. 

Why this mode of transportation remains the prevalent means to get around is beyond me. In fact the subject has been discussed ad nauseum. But remember that when you buy a vehicle the contract implies caveat emptor. How true. So I will not spend time discussing the reasons that such a foul way to get around has stuck around for so long. Lobbying probably has had a lot to do with it as has public relations campaigns and fear mongering. But wait, I said I wasn’t going to speak about it.

What I am going to speak about is a new system that is making its mark in Israel, Denmark and Australia. Better Place, a company started by Silicon Valley millionaire Shai Agassi, has only been around four short years and has already received over $300 million in investments to make this new way of getting around a reality in those countries. Japan, Canada and in the United States, Hawaii and San Francisco are on board. Better Place has plans and funding to move into Western Europe. Shai’s vision is not to create a new vehicle but to change the way vehicles are fueled.

I consider his a brilliant and ground breaking vision because it does not re-invent the wheel. Instead it uses common sense to solve a major hurdle in electric vehicle development--Similar to what Henry Ford did for the automobile and Bill Gates did for the personal computer. They made them cheap to buy and operate.

In simple terms, here is how it works. When you buy a gasoline-fueled car, the dealer does not make you buy all the fuel that you will ever need right then and there. If he did, you would have to add another $15,000 or so to the price. That, in turn, would make you think twice about buying that vehicle.

When you buy an electric vehicle you are, in fact, paying for a large part of the fuel cost up front in the form of the battery. Since the battery in an electric vehicle is very expensive, the battery portion of the vehicle’s price is considerable. It’s as if you would buy all the fuel upfront.

Better Place has a powerful idea - let’s remove the cost of the batteries when you buy the car and let’s install a pay-as-you-go system -- the same way gasoline vehicles operate.

 This system is very popular in Israel; a country that has no intention to rely on oil. Israelis line up to tour the factory and order their vehicles.

The infrastructure is where the solution lies. EVs “refuel” at automated changing stations rather than charging stations. There, a vehicle’s low battery is removed and replaced with fully charged battery in minutes while you wait. The change-out takes the same amount of time that it takes to fuel up a conventional car. The difference is that there is no mess and you stay in the car. Winter climate dwellers will love this feature.

So why are we not have rushing to build these stations all over the United States and to build new fleets of EVs? Well, remember I said I would not talk about it. I lied. I have to.

The car companies aren’t interested in this for reasons only their executives know. Maybe it’s because these cars are so simple to make that they would cost around $10,000. Maybe it’s because they require little maintenance. They do not use fossil fuels and they last a long, long time. In fact, Better Place has offered to buy billions of dollars worth of these vehicles from American car manufacturers and no one has taken them up on their offer.

So we are at the threshold of great things. The end of fossil fuels is nearer every day guaranteeing that the air around us will be cleaner. But not by our feuding Washington elite: instead by other forward-looking countries and a Silicon Valley Millionaire. Man that sounds familiar. That used to be us.

GL