Name: A new ecosystem for electric cars
Uploaded: 2009-04-13T01:00:00Z
Duration: 17 min 46 s
Description: Forget about the hybrid auto -- Shai Agassi says it's electric cars or bust if we want to impact emissions. His company, Better Place, has a radical plan to take entire countries oil-free by 2020.

Forget about the hybrid auto -- Shai Agassi says it's electric cars or bust if we want to impact emissions. His company, Better Place, has a radical plan to take entire countries oil-free by 2020.

A new ecosystem for electric cars

Ending a country’s dependence on oil is possible by making electric cars more convenient and affordable than gasoline vehicles. By separating car ownership from battery ownership and building networks for charging and battery swaps, electric miles could cost as little as two cents by 2020, undercutting even the cheapest gasoline. Battery swapping can be quicker than refueling at a gas station, and charging infrastructure can leverage the fact that cars are parked 22 hours a day. Bold national policies and new business models, not incremental tweaks, are needed to trigger mass adoption and curb the 25 percent of global CO2 emissions produced by cars and trucks.