Better Place Plans Electric-Car Network in Bay Area

The mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose on Thursday announced a nine-point policy plan to work with start-up Better Place to help speed the rapid development of electric cars in the Bay Area.

Local officials described the move as part of an attempt to put the region – including Silicon Valley – at the forefront of electric vehicle development in the US, with California as its first state, beginning in the Bay Area.

Commercial availability of electric cars is targeted to begin in 2012, and Better Place estimates its network investment in the Bay Area will total $1 billion when the system is fully deployed. The three Mayors said they welcomed Better Place’s announcement and anticipate many other EV companies will focus on the Bay Area as a top-priority market.

The first steps of the plan will begin to be rolled out in December. Where the money will come from to fund these programs is still unclear. The San Francisco mayor’s office said through a spokesman it has identified funding sources at the regional and state levels but that it won’t announce anything until they are secure, likely in 2009.



Better Place founder Shai Agassi, who predicts mass-market production of electric cars in the U.S. by 2012, said operations in the San Francisco area would serve as a precursor for deployment of electric-car networks across the U.S.

The $1 billion cost of the initial network would be raised by an operating company Better Place plans to start in the Bay Area, he said.

Mr. Agassi said in an interview that the money would be raised over about three years, with about $200 million needed initially. He said Better Place's banks would initiate a financing round to raise the money, primarily through equity from pension funds and other institutions. Credit markets are so tight, though, Mr. Agassi said his company probably won't be able to raise a lot of that money from debt.

He added that the initial network would eventually have 250,000 small charging stations, about the size of parking meters, and 100 to 200 centers where motorists can switch batteries.