Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Better Place LLC, a developer of electric car networks, said it plans to raise A$1 billion ($670 million) to develop a grid for powering vehicles in Australia, backed by AGL Energy Ltd. and Macquarie Capital Group.

The first mass-market cars are expected to be available in Australia by the 2012 model year, a year after a similar start- up in Israel and Denmark, Palo Alto, California-based Better Place said today in an e-mailed statement. Macquarie will assist in business development and financing, while AGL will provide renewable energy to power the cars, it said.

Australia has the world's seventh-highest per capita rate of car ownership, with almost 15 million on the road, after adding more than a million new vehicles in 2007, according to Better Place, founded last year by Shai Agassi, the former top software architect at SAP AG. Morgan Stanley, Israel Corp. and Wolfensohn & Co. are among investors in Better Place.

``We are investing in Australia's economy and adding jobs while helping the country take a generational leap forward toward oil independence,'' Agassi said in the statement. ``With our commitment to build infrastructure and the federal government's A$500 million Green Car Innovation Fund, there is a compelling case for automobile manufacturers to jump in and build clean, safe, affordable electric cars for Australasia and Southeast Asia.''

Wind Farms

Macquarie is acting as a financial adviser for the project and won't take any equity stake, Sydney-based spokeswoman Fiona Tyndall said by telephone.

The initiative will accelerate a shift in Australia toward renewable energy, Jeff Dimery, AGL group general manager, said in the statement.

``We will be sourcing 100 percent renewable generation to supply to Better Place for fuelling of the vehicles,'' Dimery said in an interview. Power will be supplied from projects including the Bogong hydropower plant under construction in Victoria state and the Hallett wind farms in South Australia, he said.

The amount of power required will depend on the volume of electric vehicle sales, Dimery said.

``Over a number of years, we'd potentially be getting up where we would need quite a number of wind farms to be fueling these vehicles,'' he said. Initial sales may be ``fairly marginal,'' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 23, 2008 02:35 EDT