Better Place, a global provider of electric vehicle networks and services, received consent from the U.S Department of Transportation to carry their battery-switchable electric taxi program to San Francisco Bay Area. This is in collaboration with the municipal governments of both San Jose and San Francisco.

The battery quick-swap technology was first tested in Tokyo six months ago. The EV Taxi program was operated by the city’s largest operator, Nihon Kotsu.

Today, Better Place Company is expanding their program at San Francisco where they will build four battery switch stations and operate them in the 50-mile long corridor from San Francisco to San Jose.

The program does not only involve several local and regional municipal government and agencies, but it has partners from both professional taxi operators and car sharing programs.

Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco even considered the announcement as another step to make the San Francisco Bay Area the “electric-vehicle capital” of America.

The electric taxis are modified from the Nissan Dualis compact crossover, which is similar to the 2010 Nissan Rogue found in the U.S market. The taxi is packed with a lithium-ion battery with a 17-kilowatt-hour power that can run a range of approximately 56 miles.

Better Place is still continuing to install the electric taxi’s charging networks, as well as battery-switching infrastructure in Israel and Denmark, the two markets where it will debut. The company says that they will commercially launch the product in late 2011.