I’ve written extensively about the Israeli electric car company Better Place and its highly questionable connections to working for the occupation in the West Bank.
A letter in today’s Sydney Morning Herald denies political favours for the firm (the NSW Premier’s husband is a senior member of the company):
Your story ”Keneally rivals shut out of car project” (August 2) implies our involvement in the Smart Grid, Smart Cities project with EnergyAustralia was based on political connections. We absolutely reject this.
We believe it is the unique combination of the industry experience of our senior management team, our position as the global industry leader, our capital backing and the quality and completeness of our technology solution that led three of the four bidders for the project to choose us as their preferred partner.
Only our solution includes an integrated network of plug-in points and battery swapping stations, and sophisticated network software that integrates with a ”smart grid” and enables the use of renewable energy to ensure zero emissions driving.
EnergyAustralia was quoted in the story as saying: ”If there was another company that also provided this electric vehicle model, we would have approached them. However, Better Place is the only company we know of that offers this model.”
It should be made clear that Better Place’s Smart Grid, Smart Cities engagement was led by our chief financial officer, Antony Cohen, a leading Australian electricity market expert, and our chief technology officer, Alan Finkel, a successful business leader and chancellor of Monash University, who are recognised as leaders in their fields.
Alison Terry Head of Corporate Affairs, Better Place Australia, Richmond (Vic)
Still no mention in the Australian mainstream media of Better Place’s activities in Palestine.