Better Place welcomed by Japanese government

Articles — By forcechange on December 9, 2008 10:43 am

While Congress limps closer to bailing out the Detroit automakers, electric vehicle infrastructure company, Better Place announced on Monday that it was partnering with the Japanese Ministry of Environment on a project that would showcase EV technology in that country.

Better Place founder Shai Agassi said, “Better Place is honored to participate in this ground-breaking program in a country with so much auto-manufacturing expertise and history. We look forward to joining Subaru and other auto manufacturers in the project and demonstrating the feasibility of electric cars with swappable batteries to the rest of the industry. Japan is moving one step closer to the next-generation Car 2.0 model of electric cars fueled by renewable energy.”

This announcement comes as Congress and the White House are putting the finishing touches on a multi-billion dollar bailout of the Big Three.  Interestingly, Better Place, which has been dominating the EV headlines lately with news that it is developing recharging networks in Israel, Australia, Denmark, the Bay Area, and Hawaii, has done all of this on less than $200 million, the amount of venture capital raised by founder Shai Agassi.