New Electric Car Upstart Drops $200 Million

A former software industry guru has an idea to bring electric cars to the masses, and he’s putting his money where his mouth is. Actually, he’s putting $200 million, raised from a small group of investment groups, into undisclosed test beds that will experiment with one crazy idea.

The concept is that this new venture will sell or lease electric cars, then charge a monthly fee to the owners for the battery refills that they’ll need every 100 miles or so. Think of it as Netflix for the road. A series of refilling stations will be networked in test countries and cities — again undisclosed — telling drivers where to pick up a fresh battery pack, which can be changed in the same amount of time it takes to fill up a gas tank.

Everyone seems very pleased with themselves in the story, despite the fact there aren’t many (or any) of the actual electric cars for sale yet, or even in development as far as we know, and without addressing larger geographic areas, the U.S. will most likely only see such tech in large cities.

$200 Million for Electric Cars? (BusinessWeek)