Local Action for a Sustainable Tomorrow

Deutsche Bank: Electric Cars Could Wipe Gas Cars off the Map
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20080409/deutsche-bank-electric-cars-could-...
by Stacy Feldman - Apr 9th, 2008
Three Deutsche Bank analysts took a hard look at Project Better Place’s business plan for an electric-car recharging grid in Israel and Denmark, and they drew this unexpected conclusion:

The electric car scheme is viable in America, too. The assumption that it would make a cost-effective investment only in tiny nations with sky-high taxes and outrageous prices at the pump is dead wrong.

How do they know?

Because Deutsche Bank crunched the numbers and found this. It will cost no more than seven cents to drive one mile under the Project Better Place scheme, including battery and electricity costs. Compare that with 24 cents per mile in Europe in a gas-powered car, and 15 to 20 cents per mile in America.

Hence this conclusion:

From checking the Project Better Place business model, we are concluding that a pure electric car should not cost any more than a diesel- or a gasoline-powered car, and in most countries its operating costs should actually be lower.

Globes was given the exclusive rights to the Deutsche Bank report. The full article is here, in Hebrew only. But here's a worthy summary from the author:

Three big analysts from Deutsche Bank went to Project Better Place in Palo Alto and spoke with [Chairman of the Board of Project Better Place] Idan Ofer and [CEO and founder] Shai Agassi and came back to Germany like they saw Buddha and got enlightened.

According to Globes, Deutsche Bank likened the Project Better Place business model to the ones used today with cell phones and car leasing, as Shai Agassi often does.

Customers will purchase packages that include a set number of miles, as well as the cost of renting the Project Better Place-owned batteries. The price of the car will vary based on the service agreement, much like today’s cell phones.

A typical contract mentioned in the bank’s report would cover a year or more, and would cost $550 per month. For that price, customers would get 18,000 miles annually, the battery, electricity for each recharge, and the car.

Deutsche Bank offers two big predictions in its report. One, groups in five to ten other nations are going to announce Project Better Place look-alikes by the end of 2008. And two, other car manufacturers, beyond Renault Nissan, are going to get in on the action, and soon.

That would be good news for Agassi and crew.

Globes reminds us that Project Better Place still has no committed long-term funding support. It raised a record $200 million in 2007, And Deutsche Bank's stamp-of-approval could help secure a future.

And maybe even plant some seeds for an electric-car infrastructure in America.