FRANKFURT, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Better Place, a California-based company building a global network of charging stations for the electric car industry, expects to break even in its first market within roughly a year after launching its business there, founder and Chief Executive Shai Agassi said.
"This might be in mid to late 2012," he told Reuters ahead of the Frankfurt auto show.
Better Place customers subscribe to monthly plans giving them enough power to travel a specified distance by electric car.
Agassi expects to earn fat margins from selling mileage to drivers, which will generate revenues that exceed the company's costs for the large lithium-ion batteries and power.
Better Place wants to fully launch services in its pioneer market Israel in mid-2011, investing $150 million in 70-100 battery exchange stations and thousands of charge spots.
A few hundred customers can sign up for trials initially, and after that at least 1,000 new customers are expected per month.
"There will be two charge spots per subscriber, one at home and one at work and we will put 20,000 to 30,000 spots in public areas, and those will grow over time," Agassi said.
"Breakeven in most countries is to be attained when we get 1-2 percent of the car population switched to electric. In Israel that is somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 cars," he said.
BIGGER BETTER PLACE
After Israel, Better Place wants to expand to Australia, wind-power strong Denmark, the oil-dependent state of Hawaii and U.S. environmental leader California.
While investments in Denmark will total about $150 million, they will be at about $200 million in Australia, Agassi said.
"We are now in the middle of capital formation in Israel and Australia," Agassi said. "It is not too hard to raise capital for this business."
"We have raised $135 million in Denmark," Agassi said, adding that Denmark's biggest utility Dong has taken a stake in Better Place Denmark -- a model which is expected for other regions as well.
Nonetheless, he said an IPO would not be on the table for another couple of years.
Before the global crisis hit the automotive market, Better Place and its partner Renault had been discussing a possible shareholding for the French auto group in the Californian startup, Agassi said.
He added that he did not expect an investment soon. "It is hard to see that car companies would invest in anything other then their core business right now."
For customers -- who will get their first chance to see the full Better Place technology and the Renault e-car at the auto show -- switching to the climate-friendly way of driving will pay out immediately, Agassi said.
"The car will be cheaper than its gasoline counterpart. For driving per kilometre you pay the same or less." This would not change with sinking oil prices, he added.
(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by David Cowell)