Is Ontario serious about Better Place?
I want to believe the Ontario government is serious about pursuing the electric car opportunity, and that the partnership announced yesterday with Better Place isn’t just a PR exercise — a classic case of greenwashing. There was no investment, by either the government or Better Place. All that was really announced is that the two sides will study what it will take to accelerate the manufacture and introduction of electric cars and deployment of the charging and “battery swap” infrastructure needed to support them. It’s a start, I suppose — which is exactly what Premier Dalton McGuinty emphasized. And sure, the education and demonstration centre Better Place plans to set up will be important as a tool to introduce the general public to the benefits of electric cars — to literally kick the tires. As McGuinty said: “One of the most important things we can do is demonstrate we are truly an electric-car friendly jurisdiction.”
Can’t disagree with that. At the same time, one wonders whether the government is prepared to take it to the next level — that is, willing to create the policies and pony up the investment necessary to attract manufacturers, support factory retooling, and create jobs. Time will tell, but the problem is time is running out. People are hurting. Jobs have been lost, and there are more to come over the coming months.
And, of course, there’s the question of whether Better Place, a U.S.-based company, is the right horse to hitch our wagon to. Does it have the right model? All this said, it will be interesting to see the results of a “comprehensive” government study to be released in May.
Here’s a link to today’s more detailed Toronto Star article on the Better Place announcement. You’ll notice near the end of the piece that Agassi replies to criticisms from GM’s Bob Lutz that the Better Place model doesn’t make sense.
Tags: Better Place, Bob Lutz, Shai Agassi
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
[...] Is Ontario serious about Better Place? [...]
January 19th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I think the announcement is necessary for Ontario auto manufacturers to realize the new future of the car. The ON government could not really pick a side in the manufacturing industry, but at least they can support it by opening up to the idea of an electric car infrastructure.
In regards to the Better Place model, right now it only supports one manufacture, Nissan, who are developing the battery swapping car. Better Place needs to be more generic, which will probably be the result of the study when it is complete. The positive thing about Better Place is that it is pushing for renewable electricity as the only method to charge up vehicles. This is the most important step in the infrastructure, otherwise, Naticoke will be re-opened to fuel the vehicles of Ontario.
This is why Ontario is doing well to announce this type of partnership. Better Place will help accelerate the Ontario government to realize renewable electricity for homes, buildings and vehicles.
January 25th, 2009 at 11:43 am
The seriousness of governments’ approach to the green agenda is in proportion to the amount of money they are prepared to invest. Announcing green intiatives is something that many governments are adept at doing—-but show me the money! Shai Agassi is an amazing motivator who inspires people wherever he goes and I am sure he will inspire some grassroots demand for investment in his project. But Ontario people will have to put pressure on their government to put up the money—noble aims are not enough to save our planet.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
At least they’re looking at options…while this may in fact go nowhere, I suppose it’s somewhat comforting that at least they’re giving the impression of attempting something different. Right?