Better Place partners with Ontario to bring EV infrastracture to Toronto
01/15/2009, 4:35 PM
By Andrew Ganz
The province of Ontario has announced plans to partner with Palo Alto, California-based Better Place to build a network of electric vehicle recharging stations scattered around the Toronto metropolitan area. The province follows in the footsteps of Israel, Denmark and Australia by announcing plans to develop an infrastructure based around the promise of electric cars.
The program will consist of charging stations that are largely geared toward vehicles capable of so-called rapid charging. Although no such car is currently on the market, there are many promising technologies, including ultracapacitors and new types of batteries, both of which could be charged in 10 or 15 minutes by a high voltage connection. This compares to a 4 to 8 hour charge time from a home outlet.
“With today’s announcement, Ontario is taking a system-wide approach to retooling its economy for growth and environmental leadership,” Shai Agassi, CEO of Better Place said in a statement.
“Our partnership will move Ontario toward a new era in personal transportation – from the current Car 1.0 model centered on the internal combustion engine to a Car 2.0 model of electric cars powered by renewable energy,” Agassi added.
Better Place says it will announce more details when it concludes a study of the province in May. The Toronto Star reported last summer that Better Place said it was willing to invest up to $150 million into Toronto’s infrastructure to set up a grid operator capable of handling about 100,000 electric cars.
Better Place intends to sell electricity plans to plug-in EV users in order to make a profit. The program would be run much like mobile phone service in that users could “subscribe” to a certain number of recharges or kilowatt hours.
Late last year, Better Place and the Israeli government announced a more extensive initiative that, the two organizations hope, will see the entire country covered in an electric grid full of recharging stations. The Toronto effort is smaller in scope, but it is still expected to be the among the largest such programs in North America. Better Place and the San Francisco Bay area recently announced plans for a $1 billion network to be developed in and around San Francisco.
01/15, 4:50 PM
posted by:
Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3
JohnnyCanuck, do you live in a Better Place?
01/15, 4:50 PM
posted by:
Borat
Here is a little footnote. Israel is subtropical country, Australia (except for deep south) never gets snow, Denmark although in northern part of Europe positioned next to Atlantic Ocean, North Sea that never freezes and keeps even winters above freezing mark. Ontario is frozen from about October till May. Just guess how effective electric batteries in the winter (8 months a year)?
01/15, 5:10 PM
posted by:
Jon Luc
It’s from November to beginning of April.
01/15, 5:52 PM
posted by:
hummah
California and Canada… a match made in hippie heaven. It had better have a heavy duty electric heater because way down here in NY state it is 12 degrees farenheit- well below zero in centigrade or celsius or whatever you Canucks call it. Think aboot it, Toronto is like Canada’s Miami.
01/15, 6:05 PM
posted by:
andy
lol borat, you have never been to ontario have you… have you ever left your home town?
) it isnt below freezing/ snowing on a regular basis until november/december through to march/ april. winter is only about 4 months… we like to call the transition months fall/ spring
other than northern ontario (which is not where toronto is located, check a map if you dont believe
01/15, 6:49 PM
posted by:
Mutant@DCX
Just put chargers on the 401, 400 hwy, and Don Valley Parkway center lanes, cause that’s where all the traffic sits idle for half the day in Hogtown.
01/15, 6:53 PM
posted by:
jandrews90
That is good news(I live in Toronto), but I cringe when I think they are going to try and sell us monthly plans, thats bs.
01/15, 7:02 PM
posted by:
CanGo87
Borat….. go wikipedia toronto. The mean temperature is only below 0C three months of the year. Before you wikioedia toronto look up mean as you probably don’t know it means either.
01/15, 7:03 PM
posted by:
CanGo87
Borat….. go wikipedia toronto. The mean temperature is only below 0C three months of the year. Before you wikipedia toronto look up mean as you probably don’t know it means either.
01/15, 7:25 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
LLLL#3, I go to a better place starting about 5:30 pm every day. Usually it takes about 5 or 6 charges to achieve full capacity.
01/15, 8:17 PM
posted by:
Lariat Luxury Locomotive Liner No.3
JohnnyCanuck, I hear ya. Is that a light or dark recharge? My preference is dark; the darker the better. Which reminds me…
01/15, 8:54 PM
posted by:
Borat
CanGo87, you are brilliant guy, you don’t have to post your brilliance twice.
Thank you for advice, I’ll read Wikipedia to measure the temperature precisely. I’ll give advise as well: don’t expose boys between November and beginning of April and please don’t eat yellow snow.
Andy, you can use the same advise and also don’t drop pennies form CN tower, not that it would hurt anyone.
Now regarding physics, batteries work better and last longer in wormier then Ontario climate.
01/15, 11:33 PM
posted by:
darx_ider
I wonder why Vancouver has not started it yet!! Borat, what is going on here? are you jealous or something? no worries, once it succeeds here; will send it over to NY LOL
01/16, 10:18 AM
posted by:
Borat
It probably will not work well in NYC either. Today it is 15 F with some nice windchill factor. The battery in regular car wen crank-crank before starting engine. What are the chances of driving electric car today? And if it will start and go how far do you get?
Electric cars are best suited for warmer then 50F (10C) climates, nothing north of DC.
01/16, 11:45 AM
posted by:
The Stig
While nothing works well in very cold temperatures the modern chemistries will fare better than traditional lead-acid batteries. Don’t forget, heat is the enemy of electronics – things aren’t going to be great at 120F either.
01/16, 2:09 PM
posted by:
Gundy
I was going to ask the same thing as Borat, but knowing that I’d probably get crucified for being such a worthless idiot as to not know everything about Toronto, I didn’t.. (Borat, I’m not saying that you are an idiot, just that some folks on here are ruthless about shooting first and asking questions later)
So, how does an electric vehicle work in a cold clmate, as far as heating and a/c goes? (”Gundy, you stupid, worthless idiot, I can’t believe you don’t know as much as I do, the answer is…”… )
01/16, 7:24 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Well, in the Finger Lakes region right now it’s… well, below 0 degrees. Thats unusual weather, but it’s consistently below 40. They’d work, but not nearly as well.
01/18, 4:15 AM
posted by:
The Stig
A Tesla’s battery is both both heated and cooled by circulating liquid to keep it in the optimum temperature range. Works like a charm – just ask Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear
01/18, 3:51 PM
posted by:
travis0017
NICE! Kudos to you, Toronto, for being a leader! I hope the US gets out of bed with oil companies and follows suit.