Israel gearing up to inaugurate electric car grid by next year

Personally, I'm not convinced battery-electric is the long term solution, but if electric is the goal, Better Place is the *only* one that resolves the range issue by separating battery from car. It is a systemic approach whereas others are standalone (you charge or provide auxiliary propulsion as with hybrids). Those who leap to conclude "it won't work" ignore the fact that smart people are putting their own money on the line,and *they* are convinced there is money to be made. Look at the first years as a "shake-down" testing period, which will run in both Israel and Denmark. (Hawaii and Japan are also interested.) An alternative is to have government picking winners, as with the US providing a few hundred million to Tesla. Of the two, I prefer the market to find the most viable solution.

Evidently you missederstand Better Place's solution, There will 100,000's of charge station (at home, work shops etc.) but in addition there will be the switch stations which are only used on the 5% (or less), of trips where you need to go futher than 160km. On those occasions the way to lengthen your range will be by going to a switch station. But on all other ocasions you will be charging your car at home and at work etc.

"You are free to postpone the answer until 1% of Israeli cars are electrical." There are orders for 100,000 electric cars to be delivered in 2011 to Israel.

It is obvious from the intensity of your comments that you have a personal stake in this matter so the best advice I can give you is to get your money out of oil while the going is good. The new industrial revolution is coming quicker than you think.

So it will take 20 to 30 years "to solve the problem of oil dependency for the entire world". And your point?

Axel, always rooting against Israel. Shows where you're coming from. Well, buddy, this time we're gonna do it. The world will wean themselves off oil, choking off a major part of Islamo funding. Then Axel will cry about the "Jewish Conspiracy". Haaa. This move is LONG overdue. People in the US will gladly sacrifice a bit of electric car inconvenience if the payoff is no dependence on foreign oil.

Excuse me, Global Warming Hypocrites. There is no breakthrough technology. Simple. Otherwise, you don't think Toyota would have a working model by now if this is the state of the art? Dream on , all you employees of the natural gas companies .

"Israel was trying to solve the problem of oil dependency for the entire world." What timeframe to transform only 1% of the world's individual transport by car to electric propulsion? You are free to postpone the answer until 1% of Israeli cars are electrical. Around 2018 ...

of , much more efficient , electricity beside oil . The technology will win this time around . And Israel will be the leader , as in many other cases of tech breakthrough in the past . Minds are terrible thing to waste .

Regardless of all the pros and cons, 70 to 100 stations is not gonna cut it if you figure out how many will be needed for Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem alone. This will be for the city dwellers, not the tourists. Who wants to get stuck in Acre with a flat battery?

David, Isreal burns coal for electricity not oil, even worse. Physicist, The Israeli system relies on loading in to cars recharged batteries at the 'fuel' stations. You are not factoring the carbon footprint of this ridiculous system. However, if your talking about the efficiency of electric public transport; now you're talking sense. Bye the way Aggasi is wrong, it is his wish Israel will be dependent on his company's technology and got the approval from the Israeli government who thought they were getting something for nothing.

Almost 40% of Israel's electricity is produced by natural gas operated power stations, not OIL and Israel has huge natural gas reserves.

I think Denmark will use wind power to re-charge the the batteries and Israel solar power

One other thing: we don't necessarily burn oil to make electricity. If we're talking about fossil fuels, then we tend to burn coal and gas, which is more plentiful and also cheaper. We thus further save money by taking oil out of the equation altogether.

No David, its just plain science,the first law of Thermodynamics states essentially that no matter can be created nor destroyed, it just changes form. Now for the sake of argument, when a car burns gas ,lets say we get 30% efficiency , this means the other 70& has changed form into heat and dissipated, thereby we lose the use of it. In contrast to out car engine when the plant burns gas we get 70% efficiency, and only 30% is lost as heat, this gives us a net gain of 40% more energy for our money. David its just plain math.

Electric car engines are much more efficient than internal combustion engines. An electric car consumes about 15 kW/h per 100km, compared to around 70 kW/h per 100km for a petrol car. The electric car loses some efficiency due to the battery, but then again for petrol you need to transport and refine oil, which is also a major loss of efficiency. If you put all the numbers together, it is MUCH more efficient to have an electric transport system, even if the primary energy still comes from fossil fuels. In addition, in the future, if we already have the electric transport system in place, the whole cycle becomes completely green when replacing the primary power source with solar/wind/fusion when each technology becomes sufficiently ripe.

I believe so far there is only 1 model of electric car designed for this system so will Israelis all want the same car just because its electric & do they have money to spend on a new car? Do the batteries have the muscle and efficiancy to be a practical alternative? A good start would be to aim at the rental car market. People who rent cars only want a car that will get them from A-B. Also tourists will like the idea of driving a enviromentally friendly car I think that until electric can become much more practical in their capabilities then hybrid is the stop gap not jumping straight to electric especially with such limited choices and battery efficiency I don't see this scheme working outside Israel because it will be harder to set up and less motive. Israel is a very small country so its economical still to set up things like charging stations. Israel is dependent on arab oil political problem. Other countries are to big for it to be economical & oil isn't such a political issue

70 or 100 recharging points are insignificant. And if 'the entire world' goes electric, where will that electricity come from?

...not before...

I just can't wait for this project to start. Best wishes for a success!

It just doesn't add up. You can't burn oil, to make electricity , and save money.