Australia is set to become the latest country to test the market for the viability of electric vehicles, with an A$1bn ($676m) project to build a large-scale recharging infrastructure.
Macquarie Capital Group is planning to raise the money for Better Place, a US venture capital-backed company that builds charging points and battery-swap stations for plug-in vehicles in Israel and Denmark.
Under the plan, charging spots, to top up batteries, would be located in places where cars park, including home garages, shopping centres and office carparks.
The charging spots, which would look like parking meters, would provide cables to connect batteries to a green energy grid, for which AGL Energy will provide power from renewable sources including hydro and wind.
On the outskirts of city centres and on freeways, “battery switching stations” would exist for trips longer than 161 kilometres.
A driver would pull up to a switching station and replace the car’s battery before continuing on their journey, similar to filling up the tank at a petrol station, according to Mr Agassi, Better Place chief executive officer.
Mr Agassi said it was hoped the infrastructure project to initially establish the network would be in place by 2011 and the first battery cars on the road in Australia a year later.
Australia has the seventh largest per capita car ownership in the world, more than either the United States or Britain.
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