The world's biggest proponent of electric vehicles appears to be exchanging his support for the concept of swappable batteries. Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn says the Renault Fluence ZE will likely be the only model from the French automaker to have the ability for its battery to be changed out at battery-recharging stations such as the ones proposed by Better Place.
Ghosn says he isn't confident that consumers will embrace the concept and will likely prefer the simplicity of a single rechargeable battery in their vehicles, Energi Watch says. So far, the feature hasn't been much of a selling point for Renault, which has sold about 2,000 Fluence ZEs. Compare that to over 50,000 Nissan Leafsales since the model's debut in late 2011.
Better Place has been roiled by financial losses and management changes, most recently deciding to close California and Australia operations to focus on Denmark and Israel station deployment. As of late last year, the company was said to have lost about $437 million since its 2007 inception. Better Place founder Shai Agassi resigned from the company last October.
Ghosn says he isn't confident that consumers will embrace the concept and will likely prefer the simplicity of a single rechargeable battery in their vehicles, Energi Watch says. So far, the feature hasn't been much of a selling point for Renault, which has sold about 2,000 Fluence ZEs. Compare that to over 50,000 Nissan Leafsales since the model's debut in late 2011.
Better Place has been roiled by financial losses and management changes, most recently deciding to close California and Australia operations to focus on Denmark and Israel station deployment. As of late last year, the company was said to have lost about $437 million since its 2007 inception. Better Place founder Shai Agassi resigned from the company last October.
Source: Autoblog Green
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