There is something that I just dont understand about our country. In our country, we are experienceing a loss of manufacturing jobs, the demise of the American car to foriegn imports, and the grip that oil holds on all of us, that leads us into conflicts in the Middle east that none of us want.
As far as I can see, there is a great solution to all of these problems right now Staring us in the face. I believe that the answer is something called Project Better Place.
www.projectbetterplace.com
Electric cars, US Manufacturing, and No more oil from the middle east!
The founder projectbetterplace.com is a man named Shai Agassi.
He is a young Israeli who has come up with a concept of making electric cars for very cheap, and creating switching stations where you can change out a battery as opposed to filling up your gas tank.
Agassi has come up with a brand new model for car manufacturing that would be oil free, boost American car manufacturing and most important be profitable for the company that takes this challenge
One of the big obstacles to electric cars is the price of the battery.
Agassi has taken that component out of the equation. He is gong to give you the battery for free, and instead of filling up at a gas station you will now end up switching your battery at a switching staion that will take about 3 minutes total. Agassis company will own the bateries and switch them for you. This makes the cars extremely affordable.
The other big part of this is that Agassi wants to build a national infrastructure for switching bateries stations, and a new electric grid, and a plug outlet at every parking spot in America. The car battery will charge in a 1/2 hour, and will go 40 miles per charge. (That will be much more as technology gets better)
So think about your life. How many places do you drive that are more than 40 miles. Not many. Go to work, park and plug in. Go to the store, park and plug in. Go to a movie, park and plug in. Go to the mall, park and plug in. Come home, park and plug in. You may not get to a switching station for weeks.
So now we have these great cars (Nine models including SUV's) that are dirt cheap because they can afford to sell them for like $10,000 each. You dont buy gas anymore, you buy miles, and will choose a mileage plan to pay for each month like your phone plan. He has taken the phone plan model and applied it to Auto's. It really is brilliant.
The entire thing would cost like 100 billion to start up. Thats like 2 months of the cost of oil we inport from the Saudis, and just 30 billion more then we are giving GM right now just to stay afloat. 80% of the 100 billion would be to build all of the switching stations across the country. That means 80% of the 100 billion would be used for jobs building these stations. JOBS for right now!!!
Also....If you give big tax breaks to people getting electric cars built right here in America, with American batteries, and no tax breaks for the gas powered cars, Within 10 years people will switch over to the electric cars, and we will make the gas powered car a thing of the past.
Imagine if a car was only 10,000. Almost everyone could buy one, and we would have endless amounts of jobs for the manufacturers in Detroit and across the country.
I believe that in a video I saw, Agassi said that he believes the profit for a company like that could be Billions a year! You have to remember that he would be replacing the oil companies, and getting both the profits of oil and cars together, and with the Miles plans, could afford to give healthcare to everyone and keep all of the legacy costs.
It is a very out of the box way to go, and Israel is already begun to do this along with Australia. Thats the kind of steve Jobs thinking we need right now. Agassi should be made the head of GM, and insert this solution!
If we are going to give GM like 70 billion anyway, why wouldn’t our government go totally out of the box and create this modern system.
The funny thing is that I don’t ever even hear this guy on the main stream shows at all. i would think this guy would be Ed Schultz's dream.
A man that would create Jobs, Jobs, Jobs right here in America.
A man who wants to build electric cars here, with electric battery infrastructure, right here, pay auto workers a middle class wage, and keep people employed. Also this plan would only increase the electric power use in the country by like 6%. With a new power grid, the cars would actually be a source of energy across the country when they are not being used.
BTW..SF Mayor Gavin Newsome has totally embraced Agassi's ideas and wants to do it in San Fran.
Its an idea that is brilliant and would eliminate all of the car Carbon being put into the air in our country within 10-15 years as people buy the new cars.
Can anyone else comment on what they think of this guy's plan? And if any of my facts are wrong, please feel free to correct me. :)