Less than a week after switchable EV battery pioneer Better Place announced a newly expanded agreement with French car maker Renault, the company’s founder and CEO, Shai Agassi appeared as a guest on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report in hopes of getting that sought-after ‘Colbert Bump’.
The Colbert Bump, as it is known, is a phenomenon wherein people (places, companies, ideas) that appear on the Colbert Report receive a sudden boost in popularity for their cause.
The deal announced by Agassi in Frankfurt builds on an agreement reached between the two companies in August and will be to install the Better Place battery system (and build-out the charging network) for the Renault Fluence ZE for sale in Israel and Denmark. The Fluence ZE was one of four models in Renault’s new line of electric cars unveiled last week at the Frankfurt Auto Show.
Renault says the battery in the Fluence ZE can be completely re-charged in four to eight hours via the standard charging or it can be replaced in under five minutes via Better Place’s ‘Quickdrop’ battery-swapping network.
The Palo Alto, California-based Better Place has signed deals to build out networks of charging spots and battery switching stations in Australia, Denmark, California, Canada, Hawaii and Israel. And since the business model for the company is based largely on the success of those battery-swapping stations and networks, public buy-in and understanding of the concept is paramount: Buy-in and understanding that will likely build if Better Place does get the ‘Colbert Bump’ after the appearance of Agassi. Watch it:
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Image © Better Place
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