The Better Place center, opened in March 2011 in Denmark and aimed at offering the first, real alternative to the conventional car on a large scale. Purpose of the initiative: to sell electric cars and mobility services to the general public. The cars are Renault, undoubtedly the most committed - among the major brands - in electric propulsion. His Fluence ZE (zero emission) is the first family saloon offered on the market on a non-prototype basis. We have already written about it: in December we tried it at Motorshow of Bologna, finding it exceptional in terms of performance, comfort and driveability. In Denmark this car is also offered with the possibility of equipping it with Better Place branded services aimed above all at ensuring maximum assistance in terms of lithium-ion batteries, their possible replacement covered by insurance services as well as various types of subscription to mobility aimed at private customers and companies.
If Renault's pioneering commitment to electric is nothing new, Better Place has also been talking about itself for some time. This is the company founded by the Israeli Shai Agassi: 44-year-old Israeli manager, married and father of two, long settled in San Francisco, California. His dream is now increasingly reality: to ensure a real future for the electric car. And given that guaranteeing services capable of making the object truly usable and advantageous is not easy, here is Agassi's idea: to set up a series of services to accompany the car in and of itself.
Agassi has therefore been studying for years a different types of technical assistance to ensure that the user and his electric car can have guaranteed performance even if he does not have a comfortable situation at home to recharge the batteries. Better Place therefore offers on the market stations for recharging lithium batteries as well as technical bases for replacing a flat battery with a perfectly charged one in a totally automated way and in just a few minutes. The concept is revolutionary: not just the electric car, but the service to allow for its best use. It is no coincidence that Shai Agassi managed to raise high-level funds in just a few years (335 million dollars between 2008 and 2009 alone) from strategic partners such as the Israeli and Danish governments, car brands such as the sister companies Renault and Nissan, investment bank Morgan & Stanley. The first results are available starting from Denmark. Launched on the market at a price of 205 Danish kroner (about 28 euros, the same price now here), the Renault Fluence ZE
It offers its users five different battery technical support packages. Different prices depending on the mileage: for those who exceed 40 km a year, the subscription costs around 400 euros per month; not exceeding 20 km per year, the fixed monthly fee ranges from 199 to 249 Euros. Each subscription includes a single initial subscription of around 1.300 Euros which entitles you to the installation of a private charging point in your own home. All for a 'real', full-optional 5-seater car with a maximum operating range of 185 kilometers starting from a fully charged battery. Autonomy that becomes practically unlimited thanks to the proposed battery replacement service, in less than five minutes, at a point on the Better Place network.
