tres cool - electric cars for Melbourne

Here is an article I was sent by a friend (thanks Pete!) about a 'plan to fit out Melbourne with electric car charging points'.

by Charisse Ede (AAP)

October 23, 2008

VICTORIANS will be able to drive an electric car and recharge it at plug-in points at home, the office or shopping centres within four years.

The mass use of electric cars moved a giant step closer to reality today, with power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital signing an agreement with international group Better Place to provide infrastructure to support the environmentally-friendly vehicles.

Under the agreement, Macquarie will raise $1 billion to build an electric-vehicle network in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and AGL will power it with renewable energy.

Better Place, established by American entrepreneur Shai Agassi, has designed the infrastructure model, which is already being rolled out in Israel and Denmark.

Mr Agassi said under the agreement, by 2012 the three major Australian cities will each have a network of between 200,000 and 250,000 charge stations where drivers can recharge their electric cars.

These are likely to be at home, in businesses, car parks and shopping centres, he said.

In addition, there will be some 150 switch stations in each city and on major freeways, where electric batteries can be automatically replaced in drive-in stations similar to a car wash.

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