California Driving Course for Sustainable Transportation

In San Francisco City Hall today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with the Mayors of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland, joined together with the Bay Area Council, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and Better Place of Palo Alto to announce a sweeping plan to reinvigorate the state and region’s competitive advantage in innovative technology through public-private investments in electric vehicles and other elements of “green” infrastructure. This new approach challenges conventional assumptions that economic and environmental recovery are at odds with each other, and aligns them, instead.

“California is already a world leader in fighting global warming and promoting renewable energy,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This type of public-private partnership is exactly what I envisioned when we created the first ever low carbon fuel standard and when the state enacted the zero emissions vehicle program. This partnership is proof that by working together, we can achieve our goals of creating a healthier planet while boosting our economy at the same time.”

“The Silicon Valley Leadership Group is strongly committed to accelerating action on
climate change and we view the move to sustainable transportation as a critical step
forward for the region. As part of this commitment, we will continue our efforts to help
accelerate commercialization of EV technology, working with leading companies like
Better Place and offering EV adoption programs. Increasing the number of EVs on the road
is one of the ten action areas in our Bay Area Climate Change Compact, which we have
developed in partnership with the three Mayors here today as well as the four regional
agencies — ABAG, BAAQMD BCDC, and MTC. We look forward to driving this change in
the coming years.” — Barry Cinnamon, Board Member, Silicon Valley Leadership Group

In conjunction with the news, Better Place, the world’s leading sustainability mobility operator, announced that it would enter the US market with California as its first state, beginning in the Bay Area. Better Place will work a similar infrastructure investment model as it has in Israel, Denmark and Australia. Network planning and permitting will begin in January 2009 with infrastructure deployment beginning in 2010.

Mass market availability of electric cars is targeted for 2012, and Better Place estimates the network investment in the Bay Area will total $1 billion when the system is fully deployed. The Better Place model is an open network model built on industry standards, allowing for fixed battery and battery exchange electric vehicles to operate on the network.

“At Better Place, we believe that the systemic issues facing our country today – climate change, economic downturn and the ongoing geopolitical struggle between energy rich and energy poor nations – all tie back to our addiction to oil,” said Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO, Better Place. “We believe the successful solution includes a confluence of leadership involving California’s strength in technology and innovation coupled with Michigan’s automotive manufacturing might, with the right policy and national project leadership from Washington. We are grateful for the support from Governor Schwarzenegger, whose policies have enabled this ‘blue ocean’ opportunity. If we tackle these issues through an integrated approach among cities, states and nations, the world wins.”

“America has to end its addiction to oil and find a global solution to climate change. With
this announcement, the Bay Area truly becomes the electric vehicle capital of the United
States.” ,R. James Woolsey, Former Director, CIA & Venture Partner and Senior Advisor, VantagePoint Venture.

(never thought I would be quoting a former CIA director about electric vehicles…)

California now joins Israel, Denmark and Australia as the world’s leaders in seeking to reduce their dependence on oil.