Better Place, an EV battery company that has taken a different tack on battery charging with its battery swapping stations, has opened its first publicly available switching stations in northern and central Israel and plans many more to come. The company also plans to expand into Denmark and Australia, its first major market.

Small-scale swapping station projects are underway in California and Hawaii, and Better Place also plans to deploy and run four stations for a fleet of electric taxis in the San Francisco to San Jose corridor, as reported by Environmental Leader.

.

Battery swapping does have its advantages. Because Better Place owns the batteries it swaps out, the sticker price of EVs that can use its network is cheaper. And drivers can expect to have a 100-mile range in a battery that was switched out in less than 10 minutes.

.

Renault-Nissan, a Better Place partner, has begun selling sedans customized to be compatible with the stations. While most of the 140 customized cars in Israel are driven by Better Place employees, leasing companies have ordered 1,800 of them and the company anticipates 5,000 will be on the road by year end.