Better Place and Chinese partner China Southern Power Grid Company (CSG) have opened an infrastructure for replenishing electric vehicles with new batteries, as the latter moves to build an extensive infrastructure network for EVs in southern China.
Better Place worked with CSG with whom it signed an agreement to develop EV infrastructure in China last April, as reported by EcoSeed.
The charging structure lies near the Guangzhou Auto Mall at the Pearl River New Town business district where visitors can see the switch process and where Better Place has put up charging stations and other service centers.
Instead of quick-charging electric vehicles, the battery switch concept replaces the emptied EV battery with a fully charged one in a matter of minutes. (The demonstration on Better Place’s Web site shows the process being completed in two minutes).
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Better Place’s partner, CSG, is a member of China’s State-Owned Enterprise EV Industry Alliance. The energy company serves China’s five southern provinces, and has reportedly signed EV infrastructure agreements with the provinces Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou, among others.
During the «12th Five Year» plan period and under the Chinese government’s leadership, CSG will reportedly localize smart EV network infrastructure for the Chinese market and meet the needs of the five southern provinces to support the development of the EV industry.
Currently, CSG has 14 EV charging stations in its network, with 2,901 charging poles in operation, and 206,000 kilowatt-hours of usage over 45,000 charge cycles from January to November 2011.
Better Place switch stations have been installed in countries like Israel and Japan. – Katrice R. Jalbuena
