Getting closer to a Better Place

ELECTRIC-CAR infrastructure company Better Place Australia is on track to trial up to 50 Renault Fluence ZE Zero Emissions cars in Canberra beginning late in the second quarter of next year.

The specialists in EV charge network (that also includes battery swap stations) will then move across Australia’s eastern seaboard, most likely beginning with Melbourne, as it tries to keep a few paces ahead of the wave of EVs expected to arrive in this country.

“We’ll kick off late in the second quarter and go on from there,” said Better Place’s head of corporate affairs Alison Terry, a former GM Holden board member until 2009.

“It will involve a small number of fleets and early-adopter consumers who will be the first to drive the Fluence ZE, and then we will ramp up for a commercial launch in the last quarter of 2012.

“But it will be a relatively small number, less than 50 initially. But we will want to be able to access cars as early as possible – and keep an eye on the car as a trial. It’s a whole new way of thinking for us as well as consumers.

“Ultimate numbers in Canberra will ramp up, involving significant numbers of government and fleets.”

The battery-swap infrastructure being prepared for Australia will be a second-generation system that will see a Fluence ZE positioned, primed, cleaned and refitted with a fully charged unit inside four-and-a-half minutes – roughly the time it takes to fill a regular car’s fuel tank.

It will require just the swipe of an identity card and no need to leave the car.

From top: Renault Zoe, Renault Kangoo ZE, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf.

Aiding the Fluence ZE will be the special ‘OSCAR’ satellite navigation, customer support and entertainment system developed by Better Place that, among other benefits, finds the nearest charge or swap site, or lists where they are located on a moving map within the circumference of the vehicle’s range.

While the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf, Holden Volt, Fluence ZE and its commercial vehicle cousin the Kangoo ZE are all at the vanguard of the modern EV roll-out in Australia, all are relatively low-volume premium offerings.

However, it appears that Renault’s all-electric light-size Zoe hatch will become Australia’s first mainstream EV, with a price tag believed to be on a par with the Volkswagen Polo TDI.

According to the French car-maker, Zoe is designed to sell in large volume around the world, and is even primed to be a best-selling car in parts of Western Europe, where considerable EV ownership incentives from governments will see its price fall even lower than in Australia.

Part of Zoe’s mass appeal will be the speed and ease of its battery pack changeover times, which is expected to be well under three minutes from the moment the car enters a station.

A prototype system underwent a three-month trial by Better Place in Tokyo last year system using a trio of converted Nissan Dualis taxis. In that case the battery swap took just 60 seconds and the whole process was over in two minutes.

Better Place will be under considerable pressure to be ready nationally to accommodate the expected demand for the French light car offering.

“We will be ready,” Better Place spokesperson Felicity Glennie-Holmes told GoAuto on the Renault Fluence ZE international drive program in Portugal last week.

“Nationally, Australia will have the largest charge market infrastructure in the world.”

Canberra was chosen for the initial trial because of its high vehicle use, Ms Glennie-Holmes added, calling the nation’s capital a city that “was not designed for the horse and cart” but for the car.

“Some 82 per cent of households have more than one car in the ACT, so it makes sense for that second car to be an EV,” she said, adding that there is also plenty of off-street parking for easier and more convenient overnight charging.

Ms Glennie-Holmes also confirmed that Custom Fleet’s intention to purchase at least 1000 EVs in Australia by 2015 will not be limited to Renault vehicles.

“We intend to work with every manufacturer,” she said.

More than a dozen different battery packs can be accommodated in the unfolding battery-swap infrastructure, to take in the different shapes and sizes expected from a range of manufacturers over the next few years.

The outlets, which should take between eight and 12 weeks to build, were conceived as part of a $670 million research and development fund.

Pricing details for Better Place Australia’s flat monthly rate subscription are yet to be divulged but will vary according to whether the purchaser is an individual or fleet buyer due to the volume involved.

It will include a variety of options from simple charging capability to access to the complete battery-swap service.

Subscribers of other charging services can still use the Better Place outlets, with the latter undertaking a “back office settlement” to sort out the bill between providers.

The Silicon Valley-based company’s Australian arm employs 45 people, while Better Place staffing globally has risen to 600.