Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldal isn’t ready to say the world is a Better Place.
Coulomb Technologies appears to have struck a deal to install electric car charging stations in Tel Aviv.
In a blow to Better Place’s dream of turning Israel into its private battery-swapping, electric-car market place, Huldal appears to have signed a deal with company rival Coulomb Technologies.
Coulomb is to install 50 electric-car charging stations in Israel’s capital city Tel Aviv by next year. The reason: the city doesn’t want electric car recharging to become a monopoly, according to a report on Yedioth’s Ynet Web site.
The news appears to put an end to Better Place’s hope that it alone would become Israel’s supplier of electric car charging services. The company has a deal with Tel Aviv and with other Israel municipalities to begin commercial operations next year. By the second half of 2011, company partner, Renault, will begin shipping 1,000 cars a month into Israel.
To be sure the cars will be used, Better Place has signed up 92 commercial fleets – including those from Computer Associates and Motorola. It also enlisted gas station operator Dor Alon to installed battery-swapping stations.
The Better Place business model is to lease lithium ion batteries to car owners and swap them for fresh ones when they are depleted. It also will contract to supply electricity to car owners both at home and on the go. The company plans to install dozens of charging stations in Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the country.
Better Place has its sties on markets in Denmark, California, China and Japan in addition to Israel.
A spokesperson from Coulomb did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
On a separate note, Better Place on Monday closed the $350 million in venture financing it announced in January. The massive round values the company at a hefty $1.25 billion.
TechPulse 360
Mark Boslet
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