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...country, however, appears to be better prepared than the others: Denmark. The biggest Danish power company has partnered with a California start-up company, Better Place, to build a nationwide grid to support electric cars, composed of thousands of charging poles in towns and cities and service stations along highways where depleted batteries can be swapped for fresh ones on long trips. (They're called "switching stations.") This isn't pie-in-the-sky stuff, either - Better Place announced last week that it had raised $350 million to support the venture, one of the largest rounds of venture capital...
...Jens Moberg, the head of Better Place Denmark, says the company is aiming to have the first cars on the road in Denmark by the second half of 2011. Within one year, he expects the number of vehicles to be "in the thousands," and by 2020, he believes there will be more electric cars sold in Denmark than combustion-engine cars. "We've managed our business in a responsible way and the Danish government has said we want to support this," he tells TIME. But he knows there's also an inherent risk in being first, particularly when it involves...
...Indeed, the chances of failure are high. Already, Better Place has run into problems with Renault over Denmark's promised tax exemptions. Last year, the former Climate and Energy Minister, Connie Hedegaard, suggested the government might extend the tax break until 2015, but months later, a decision on that has yet to be made. "If we don't get a clarification, then we at Renault want to focus on other countries for the first electric cars," head of Renault Denmark, Henrik Bang, told the Berlingske Tidende newspaper last month. Renault has since reaffirmed its commitment to the project, and Denmark...
...Still, the charging network is incredibly expensive to build. Better Place's system hinges on the switching stations, which make electric cars viable for long-distance trips and thus, more attractive to potential buyers. Here's how it works: after consumers buy their cars, the company provides them with batteries and charges them a fee to use them, based on the miles they drive. When the batteries run out of juice on long trips, drivers can replace them at switching stations in the amount of time it takes to fill a tank of gas. Better Place says the stations - which...
...locals and for visitors who happen to bring their skis and boots along "Olympic aversion" is a boon. In peak season, the locals would normally have to share the place with the skiing hordes. Now they have the joint to themselves while the bars, restaurants and hotels that provide many of them with employment are hopping. "The people who live in Whistler are skiing their brains out," says Jensen. Once it stops raining at the bottom, the Olympic ski racers will join them...