Better Place is a lousy investment for you

The decision to go ahead with an electric car that cannot be plugged into a home charger was a major error. There are cars can be charged at your home. I suspect that greed was the motivation by Better Place and now they will pay the price

around a given battery replacement scheme involves too many design restrictions to be acceptable to the car industry. They can standardize on a common recharging socket, but not more.

I understood from lectures given by Better Place that you would recharge the car at home but if you needed a charge immediatrely and cound't wait for a recharge, you then went to a battary changing station.

Current batteries for electric cars are the typical lithium ion type, which can sustain only 1000 recharges. If the range of a full charge is 120 km then the total range before the battery pack must be replaced is120,000 km. Check the cost of replacing the battery pack. The cost per kilometer diriven is astronomical if one takes into account the cost of the battery replacement. Hybrids don't have the problem.

I would be willing to bet that the writer of this column has never operated a business. The ignorance is breathtaking.

Yes you are right that Better Place is a weirdo investment at any level. There is only one model, the car's range is barely 120 kilometers per charge and there are hardly any charging stations. The charging station near Sgula on the way to Petah Tikva is empty 99% of the time. Also the rates are only marginally cheaper than running a conventional car. I'm not sure that Better Place can compete with hybrid cars that deliver 20 kms per liter now. I, for one, would not risk using the dubious technology that Better Place offers. I think it would be a millstone around anybody's neck - drivers and investors alike.