Car companies need big bets, Shai Agassi says
The intensity of the current economic downturn will claim 50 percent of automakers, said Shai Agassi, founder of the electric car company Better Place.
Twelve months from now, there will be half as many automobile companies as today, Agassi said Friday during an on-stage interview at the Web 2.0 Summit.
The question is which of them comes up with a better business model for an age of higher gas prices and global warming, he said.
“Car companies need to make big bets,” he said. “Small bets are not going to make it.”
Agassi says he has talked with Detroit car makers about a business relationship, but didn’t elaborate. Better Place hopes drivers will pay by the mile to use its cars, replacing batteries at charging stations as they travel.
So far Renault-Nissan has agreed to make nine models and Agassi has first targeted markets in Israel and Denmark, where taxing are increasing the cost of gas-powered cars.
“We’ve got to a point today where Detroit knows it needs to change
