ESB Say No to Better Place
This evening a lecture took place in the Royal Dublin Society whereby the ESB further clarified its position on electric vehicles. Senan McGrath, head of sustainability at ESB networks, outlined some of the obligatory history and then went on to talk about the issues they’re currently facing regarding standardisation. It all seems very positive. The ESB clearly intends to proceed with a bold solution and it won’t wait to match the demand. Interesting, then, that Shai Agassi’s Project Better Place has apparently been kicked to the curb.
Agassi had originally hoped to put Ireland on a list of countries alongside Israel and Denmark for his ambitious vision. In a nutshell, Better Place involves a roll-out of ’swap stations’ whereby an EV driver can replace an exhausted battery within minutes. Noises were made regarding Ireland’s involvement in this heavily invested venture last summer but two weeks ago there was a curious silence. The government publicly signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nissan-Renault regarding electric vehicle infrastructure and some of us had anticipated a big announcement on Better Place. There was no mention of it.
Now we know why. “Negotiations haven’t proceeded” according to Mr. McGrath. Speaking on behalf of ESB, he went on to explain that “we don’t see any reason why one company should have a monopoly on the charging stations.” Concerns regarding a market lockout have become apparent as Agassi’s model has gotten more fleshed out. You’d have to buy a car conforming to the specific swap system and even then you wouldn’t own the battery. Leasing from Better Place means you’d subscribe to a service whereby you can avail of a freshly charged battery at any Better Place swap station. Mr. McGrath pointed out that if one company owns those stations then there’s a lot of money tied up in what would principally be a large stock of reserve batteries.
The ESB will be “agnostic” when it comes to infrastructure. One gets the sense that they’re waiting for something better to come along but they have given us a tantalising glimpse at what stage they’re at. Studies have apparently been done regarding motorway locations for fast charging points (a more technologically demanding proposition than an on street plug). Surprise surprise, most of these locations coincide with existing service stations.
Senan McGrath accepts a token of appreciation from the Royal Dublin Society
Overall, the talk should be taken as encouraging for industry players and EV enthusiasts. The loss of Better Place as a possibility probably shouldn’t be rued. Monopolisation is a serious concern and the reasoning seems sound. What’s more, cracks were starting to appear in Agassi’s plan. Scientists at MIT have announced that within three years they expect Lithium-Ion batteries to be on the market which work off their recent breakthroughs in nano technology. Apparently, charge times of 10 minutes will be realised along with lifespans of seven as opposed to three years. There’ll be no need to swap a battery if this becomes cost effective.
Hats off to Mr. McGrath, who seems to be on board with the notion that success will lie in changing the rules of the game. Now it’s time to address the other side of the equation - how do we stimulate demand?
