Better Place, Dong Energy close $134 million for Danish EV network
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009Shai Agassi seems to be doing okay when it comes to raising money in a tough market. Better Place and Danish partner Dong Energy announced today the closing of a $134 million (U.S.) financing — a combination of equity and convertible debt. The funds will go toward building out Denmark’s electric-car charging network in advance of the introduction of Better Place-compliant vehicles in two years. “Starting in 2011 through the extensive network, The Renault-Nissan Alliance will begin to commercialize a complete range of EVs especially adapted to Danish customer requirements,” the companies said in a statement. “These cars will benefit from the Better Place mobility services and products.”
Of course, we shouldn’t assume Better Place is the only EV-charging game in town. There are other companies, such as Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies, going after the same market with a different — and less flashy — approach.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and 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 cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca