Better Place starts electric cab trial in Tokyo  

BusinessWeek has an article on a Better Place trial in Tokyo - Better Place starts electric cab trial in Tokyo.

Three electric cabs began a 90-day trial in Tokyo on Monday that officials and the company involved say could eventually lead to the electrification of the city's entire taxi fleet.

The cabs run on lithium-ion batteries that can be changed in less than one minute with a fully charged one. The charge starts running low after 300 kilometers (190 miles), according to Better Place, the California-based electric-vehicle services provider that's part of the government-backed project.

There is only one such "switch station" in Tokyo now, and the city would need 300 for the entire fleet of 60,000 cabs on Tokyo streets -- more than New York, London and Paris combined -- to go electric, said Better Place Chief Executive Shai Agassi.

He said the move to electric is inevitable because the burgeoning number of cars in countries like China is sure to push up oil prices while the price of electric vehicles is sure to come down like flat panel TVs.

"There is no other alternative," Agassi said at an opening ceremony.