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First Test To Israel's Electric Car watch!

cnbc.com — A Better Place, run by Israelis Shai Agassi and Idan Ofer have funded and are testing an electric car for the first time. take a look in the revolutionary car that may change in 2 years the fuel industry.

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  • jggube, on 05/12/2008, -1/+26Very glad to see anything that involves a reduction in gas consumption.
    • MediaSight, on 05/12/2008, -1/+18Yup, and not only reduce the gas consumption, but also deadly for terrorists that till today have an economic support from selling fuel.
    • JettaMan, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1This is no first. Everyone and their dog is coming out with electric cars next year. The high gas prices have caused a demand for them and the free markets are doing their thing.
      • Sailcats, on 05/13/2008, -0/+0PRECISELY. Free markets are our strength. Disappointed not to see more diggs on this comment! Without strong free markets driving these alternative vehicles, they'd forever remain sci-fi.
  • pitlord, on 05/12/2008, -4/+18So, we have an Israeli tycoon who made his fortune in oil, starting a company to mass produce electric cars. And the story was covered by NBC?
    >.>
    I'm shocked they overcame their anti Israel bias to report this story and they even admit that the guy responsible is a beneficiary of the "evil" oil industry? This almost makes capitalism look good!
    o.O
    There must be a flock of winged swine flying over the Kremlin right now. And the mother of all snow storms in Hades.
    • zolthar, on 05/12/2008, -2/+6The initiative does not belong to oil tycoons, they invest in such project because they know they should not put all the eggs in one basket.
    • JettaMan, on 05/12/2008, -2/+1And to boot it's just a converted Renault! *****, hobbyists in the United States have been doing car conversions forever. You can order electric car conversion kits. Why is this suddenly a Digg article?
    • Sailcats, on 05/13/2008, -0/+0Capitalism DOES look good. It's exactly capitalism that has fueled us to be the great country we are. Don't buy the left wing hype bashing the free market my friend. If you want a better world, the free market is the proven means that's always gotten us there.
      • chopsky, on 06/06/2008, -0/+0Here ***** HERE!
        These idiots take for granted the luxuries that Capitalism has given them.
  • TurdZilla, on 05/12/2008, -3/+5I don't know if I am more glad that its being done somewhere or infuriated that we are not the ones doing it First ( if you don't count the GM's EV Car). Our foreign policy is being dictated by OIL and still nothing is being done to change that here.
    • RogerStrong, on 05/12/2008, -3/+4>> Our foreign policy is being dictated by OIL

      Is that why the price of gas hasn't gone up since the invasion of Iraq? Why the US invaded Afghanistan?

      Seriously, the Iraq invasion has little to do with oil. The US will never get enough cheap oil out of Iraq to pay cover moving all the equipment and soldiers there, to rotate troops hundreds of thousands of troops there and back, and to bring them and all the equipment back home. And whatever form the final Iraqi government takes, it'll be part of OPEC.

      Popular history tells us that Britain looted India. But in reality, Britain *lost* money on India, and all her possessions. What was happening, was the East India Company was looting the British treasury.with the help of a few paid politicians.

      This is what Haliburton is doing. You know - charge the government two million dollars to rebuild a school, then pay a local contractor ten thousand to do it. Entire cargo pallettes of money missing. Vice President Cheney is the former CEO of Haliburton, and still owns considerable stock in it. Cheney's war has made him very rich indeed.
      • TurdZilla, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Here McCain practically says some of it is because of OIL. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/02/ ... and I do understand your point, but you are in denial if you thing that war profiteering is the only reason we are in Iraq or that OIL has not impact on our foreign policy.
        • RogerStrong, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Oil is a good cover story. It makes Cheney and his cronies look like they're looting Iraq, which wouldn't put them in jail, as opposed to looting the treasury, which would. (Or at least should.)

          Still, just in case, Haliburton openned up a new head office in the United Arab Emirates, outside US jurisdiction.
    • zolthar, on 05/12/2008, -1/+5It's easier for Israel to do something like that, since it is a relatively small country.
      Bigger nations should treat it as a case study.
      It's neither a snobbish "I'm doing it before everybody else" display, there's enough international corps involved.
  • Zecchetti, on 05/12/2008, -28/+9Occupied Palestine
    • blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -3/+16Just in case you didn't notice, this isn't the topic here.
      • Viend, on 05/12/2008, -10/+6His point is, the submitter named Occupied Palestine wrong.
        • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -2/+5You're saying that as someone who lives over dead bodies of Native Americans?
          Even if the "occupied" mantra was correct (and it isn't), I'd take an occupier of LAND over a MURDEROUS OCCUPIER any day. If Israel killed 90% of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs today, they would be even with the US in terms of brutality. Until then, STFU at those who are morally superior to you within your own moral standard.
        • ad33lshahid, on 05/12/2008, -5/+5just because someone else also did it doesnt make it right.
          • leubstop, on 05/12/2008, -1/+4i want to know who the Palestinians took their land from.. there was no ancient palestine... so the arab inhabitants must have have occupied some other peoples land.. and those people must have occupied some other people country.. in fact the only historical reference for any country in that area was Judea Samaria and before that it was called Canan.. but nope cant find an ancient people called palestinians.. which means, Israel was OCCUPIED up until 60 years ago, when its historical inhabitants cameback to find other people living in their houses.
          • slotimus, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1So most of Europe is occupied by the inhabitants of the Steppes? America is occupied by Europeans? Mexico is occupied by Spaniards (in fact the whole of South America)? Australia is occupied by English? Singapore is occupied by Chinese and British and Indian?
            We should give all those people their land back! Goodness!
        • dkapuchino, on 05/12/2008, -2/+7Hey ad33, I seem to be a bit misinformed on the history of the middle east. Can you find me a reliable link that explains when, how and why the Palestinian territories were "Occupied"? What was the country/countries that previously held the land before the Israelis? Why aren't the Palestinians citizens of these countries? What is the quality of the Palestinians' lives in those countries that used to hold the so called Territories? Was the land occupied during a war? What were the causes for that war? Can you give me examples of any war in which the winner retreated completely from the lands occupied? Has Israel ever agreed to return any of the land occupied? how much of that land was it willing to return? what was the Palestinians' response to that offer?
          Are Israeli cities such as Nazareth and Haifa also Occupied? What about Jerusalem and Tiberius? How many Palestinians used to live In those cities 200 years ago? How many Muslims used to live in those cities 2000 years ago? How many Jews lived in those cities 2000 years ago?
          Please answer these questions precisely and back them up with historical documents if you can.

          Thank you, Dkapuchino.
          • slotimus, on 05/13/2008, -0/+2Hey buddy, Muslims don't believe in Nationalism. The Palestinians you are talking about are just Muslims living in occupied territory post-khalifa. Muslims have been in al-Quds since the time of Ibrahim (because Ibrahim was a MUSLIM). The original Jews were not in the Ummah of our Prophet(saw) until he came to this earth but they worshiped God alone and therefore submitted themselves to God(swt). Meaning, yea thats right, they were MUSLIM. So Muslims have been in al-Quds since Ibrahim.

            Now, since I know you are going to attempt to refute this racially... I will argue with you on a race basis too. See those people in the Torah called פלשתים (I hope you can read hebrew, it says filistine)? Well guess what the 'Palestinians' are actually called... This one will be a shocker for you... فلسطين . That says filistine.

            And David
            David (daw-veed')
            loving; David, the youngest son of Jesse -- David.took
            laqach (law-kakh')
            to take (in the widest variety of applications)the head
            ro'sh (roshe)
            the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.)of the
            Philistine.and brought
            bow' (bo)
            to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)it to Jerusalem
            Yruwshalaim (yer-oo-shaw-lah'-im)
            founded peaceful; Jerushalaim or Jerushalem, the capital city of Palestine -- Jerusalem.

            Hey DK... I found that history in your own book... Is that an ok source?
        • slotimus, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1Heres that verse in Hebrew too pal

          ויקח דוד את ראש הפלשתי ויבאהו ירושלם ואת כליו שם באהלו
    • leubstop, on 05/12/2008, -4/+7in other news palestinians are working on eco friendly kassam and grad rockets... the new rocket will be propelled by methane extracted from cows flatulence.. the thought is that the cow was going to do release it into the air anyway, might as well harvest the methane and use it against the Israeli enemy..Hamas is asking israel to return the exploded metal and remaining shrapnel so that it can be recycled and used again. Hamas feels with its current schedule of launchings that its carbon footprint would reduced to that of a small warring village. " Yes we kill people, but why should the earth suffer!" said hamas spokesman.
  • getbusylivin, on 05/12/2008, -15/+6If Hitler were alive today, I bet he'd say "You know, those Jews aren't so bad...".
    • blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7On the other hand if he had electric cars he probably wouldn't have needed to seize russia and north africa for oil. He could have dedicated all his energy to do.. you know this other thing he did.
    • Viend, on 05/12/2008, -6/+2Seeing how this was probably funded by American tax, I'm not happy about it.

      I doubt Hitler would be, his rocket scientists would have developed something a lot better.
      • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -2/+5Why do you think it was funded by US tax? Its not a US project.
    • flair1, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7no, he'd be behind the muslim terrorists
      • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -1/+8He already was with them, he had a pact with the Arab leaders of the time. After Germany lost the war, many Nazi officers fled to live in the Arab world, where they led and trained soldiers to invade Israel and genocide the Jews.
        • CressCrowbits, on 05/12/2008, -4/+1Hahaha that's brilliant. I've not heard that one before. Well done.

          I especially liked the use of genocide as a verb.
          • urik88, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2You may want to search for the connections that Hitler had with "Haj Amil Al Husaini", the grand mufti of Jerusalem (the religious leader of the Arabs in Israel back then).
        • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7Do I sense some cynicism? First Google result: http://christianactionforisrael.org/antiholo/arabn ...
  • XMike14x, on 05/12/2008, -2/+4If only our beloved puppets recognized that we need cars and research like this.
  • yonoz, on 05/12/2008, -2/+12The electric car is only a part of the "Project Better Place" concept. The crux is setting up battery stations where batteries will be automatically replaced. The only difference in their electric car is that it will be designed to enable replacing the batteries in such a station.
  • plimpton777, on 05/12/2008, -22/+7Does it run on the blood & guts of dead Palestinians?
    • 965473, on 05/12/2008, -10/+2seeing how its Israel... i think it speaks for itself
    • Viend, on 05/12/2008, -9/+3Not all Palestinians, just the children.
      • dkapuchino, on 05/12/2008, -2/+4www.israel-wat.com/pps/israeli-children.pps
        • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -1/+3Warning: Very graphic, its the content the Israeli government censors with respect to the dead... :S

          Otherwise, important to remember Israeli actions have a reason.
    • blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -0/+11I am indeed sensible to the issue of the Israelo-Palestinian conflict, but I still dugg you down because this is about an electric car. I don't come whining about Iraq everytime something unrelated happens in the U.S.
      • plimpton777, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Yes, you're right, I should ignore the fact that Armageddon will most likely be caused due to conflict over a piece of land the size of New Jersey, and I should wholeheartedly celebrate the "electric" car invention. I humbly beg your apologies.
    • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -2/+18Amusing, Israel killed 6000 Palestinians (militants and civilians) in 60 years of their defensive side in this conflict. During the same period of time, 80Million civilians were MURDERED by nations in the world.
      Hell, even Jordan and Syria BOTH killed more Palestinians then Israel in that timespan, and Lebanon came close!

      But whenever there's a story that mentions Syria or Jordan, nobody seems to mention these murders, but when Israel is mentioned, suddenly all hell breaks loose? I mean, even if you claim Israel INTENTIONALLY murdered these people, its still less then 1 in 10,000 of the world's murderers-by-nation? Why is this bias against this country of all countries?
      • dkapuchino, on 05/12/2008, -1/+16The main issue here, is that Israeli's don't target women and children, they target Terrorists. Beings that these terrorists use their own people as human shields, Innocent people get harmed as well. The Palestinians however believe any Israeli target is a just target. Sending a 16 year old with a bomb strapped to his chest, to go blow himself up in a discotheque, killing 15 year old Israeli girls, makes him a "Martyr".
        • plimpton777, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I think the Palestinians are as equally disturbed and disturbing as the Israelis.
  • yawnstretch, on 05/12/2008, -0/+13Shai Aggassi used to be a board member at SAP (Europes biggest software co) but he left to push global warming issues - interesting to see him really doing that here. I'm all for this kind of thing personally.
  • heystoopid, on 05/12/2008, -4/+1Wow , what's a bet a lot of fellow drunks meandering down the footpath in Tel Aviv , won't hear that car being driven down the same footpath driven by a fellow drunk as it mows them down like ten pins at a bowling alley .
  • ButterBuddha, on 05/12/2008, -2/+12Since Israel is geographically small, having a car with only a 120 mile range isn't an issue. It'll work for them, but for the rest of us, we hope that they come up with some sort of break through in battery technology so that the range increases to 250-300 miles between charges...
    • NihilityB, on 05/12/2008, -0/+10Anyone living in a major city could use a car like that and reducing the amount of smog would greatly improve the life quality in said city.
    • blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7It doesn't matter if the country is small. It depends on how much you move. If you drive over 60 miles to work, you should find another job find a way to work remotely. If you plan on going to New-York from L.A., then a plane would be the right choice.
      • CressCrowbits, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Considering how polluting air travel is, I'd be interested to hear what the comparison in terms of emissions per passenger between a car driven cross country and an aircraft.
        • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2You'd need to consider 100 cars vs. one plane though...
      • KaiserArny, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Air transportation is the worst choice in term of emissions

        http://www.sightline.org/research/energy/res_pubs/ ...

        But considering a trip from New York To L.A. you almost have no choice to take the plane
      • heystoopid, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1Are you kidding with those badly maintained aging death traps the Major US Airlines use to fly with at this point in time , soon they will surpass the safety record of Always Crashes Airlines in the far east !

        Have you forgotten about the new 250 million people permanently barred no fly list too ?
    • freezeout, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5that's why they make hybrids. most of the driving people do is to and from work, and that's way less than 120 miles. when you need o take a long trip then you fill up the gas tank.
    • DominicUK, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3Why? How often do you drive over 120 miles? The average car journey is much shorter than you think. We should all own these (if we have to own a car) and perhaps hire petrol-powered cars if we go on a long trip, although ideally we'd take the train or something...
    • yonoz, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1Once again, there's nothing really special about the car itself - the concept is that of a subscription model where the customer REPLACES the car's batteries in robotic service stations, much like filling a petrol tank.
  • 965473, on 05/12/2008, -17/+5i can see the headlines now
    test driver for the new Israeli electric car "lost control" and mowed down a group of praying Palestinian Muslims. the driver was not injured in the event, neither was the car. that is all
    • heystoopid, on 05/12/2008, -0/+8Interesting in a perverse sort of way , but obviously you don't read about how many fellow citizens are killed or badly injured daily by drunken motorists in that country .
    • blackjack75, on 05/12/2008, -0/+4In a similarly-sized country (Switzerland) we get 400 deaths per year on the road (down from 900 in 1990). I assume they get something similar, if not higher. So yes, according to the BBC ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6215769.stm ) this problem is apparently as important if not more than the local conflict, in terms of deaths.

      Or to put it clearly, terrorism has killed less in the U.S. since 2000, than road accidents killed in Switzerland, a small 7 million people country, during that same period.
    • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -0/+7Actually, that happened not so long ago with a Palestinian driver who killed several Israeli children. He claimed it was an accident, but witnesses said it was murder.
      I don't think it actually happened with an Israeli driver and Palestinians, though it did happen with one stupid anti-Israeli protester who lied down under a bulldozer and got run over.
  • liorwohl, on 05/12/2008, -0/+11Better Place Project is not developing a car, they will build all the battery exchange stations in Israel..
    they however have contracts with Reno/Nissan to build the car and sell it in Israel, and another contract with the government to sell electric cars with 10% tax instead of 75% for normal car here in Israel..
    this Reno Megan in the video is only a concept car built here to show politicians and media that electric cars are possible.
    • Stemp, on 05/12/2008, -1/+5Renault
      • dkapuchino, on 05/12/2008, -1/+1Dugg down due to the obscene use of silent letters in French.
      • CosmicBratt, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1He's Israeli, and his first language isn't English...give the guy a break!
  • karapuz, on 05/12/2008, -0/+6The problem with this scheme is the battery quality, battery quality varies greatly based on age and how the batteries were treated (deep discharge/overcharging/etc). If I bought a new car with new batteries I am not sure I want to subscribe to a service which would give me older batteries in exchange for my new ones (which I could trickle charge at night).
    • neko6, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1True. I'd surely follow this project...
    • yonoz, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3Since the battery will be easily exchangeable, and will remain the property of the company that provides the subscription, the user needn't worry about battery life etc. - they'd replace it at the next service station. The cars are meant to be charged at home/parking lots, the automated replacement is a solution to the range problem.
  • PussInBoots, on 05/12/2008, -0/+3Did they just say 0 to 60 in just 8 seconds, like it's very fast?
  • gkiltz, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0Israel is smaller than New Jersey!
    I'd like to see how well it can actually do in countries such as the US or China, or Brazil, where the distances covered are vast!
    Distance between charges is the killer of electric cars in most of the world. Some things never change!
  • TechyLah, on 05/12/2008, -0/+5Israelis are forward thinkers and this continues the progress of turning desert into gardens. They even have the range right.
    Why should they design an electric car for Texas when their country is the size of New Jersey. If it costs half the cost of a Prius and is twice as fun to drive we should all consider one just for our commutes. I trust Israel to make something lean and mean and as reliable as possible more than I trust GM to do the same.
  • Xerxes004, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0We need more of these in America. We are spending our tax dollars on that damn art school in LA (Over $200 Million) rather than use alternate fuel transportation and recharge stations for hydrogen and electric cars... WE NEED NEW GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA!!! We are spending billions of dollars on CRAP. Go to http://www.johnandkenshow.com/archives/2008/05/07/ ... To see the stupid arts high school...
  • mcturdTheThird, on 05/12/2008, -0/+1I want one!!!!!!!!!!
    Gonna be the first on my block with a totally electric car.
  • deadlyseal, on 05/12/2008, -0/+0Unless the other part of this project is to invest millions of dollars in Biodiesel, Wind, Solar or Hydroelectric power plants in Israel, they're still going to have to burn fossil fuels to produce the electricity to power these vehicles. They might move emissions to a plant out in the middle of now where, instead of Tel Aviv, but there is no reduction in released green house gases. I'm sure Ofar's oil refineries are still going to do well.
  • monsieurginger, on 05/12/2008, -1/+2I love Israel.
  • urik88, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Awesome! Sadly, it's going to take a while until it arrives over here in Argentina (where the people's mentality is still a few years behind the US and Israel's one).
  • ozziedog, on 05/12/2008, -0/+2Best thing Israel can do is go electric, non oil or fossil fuel, If Israel needs Nuclear power, they should put their nuclear facilities close and upwind of their enemies so that any strike against the plants, the radiation will drift towards the Syrians or Hezbollah occupied territories.
    • killertowel, on 05/13/2008, -0/+0Do you really think that the Syrians or Iranians give a ***** about the palastians ?
  • bincoder, on 05/13/2008, -0/+1how do they recharge the batteries? The dead ones have got to be recharged somewhere somehow. Load them on a semi and burn fuel to drive them to a charging location? If they charge them locally, better to just skip the batteries altogether and store the energy in a flywheel. Nothing to change and much more range that way. If they can generate electricity to charge batteries they can do the same to spin up a flywheel except with less work, lead, and sulfuric acid to deal with.
  • mapkinase, on 05/13/2008, -4/+1I hope one day they build a first "Israeli" electric boat and float peacefully to where they came from.
  • bedheadben, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1Ummmm...... Hate to break it to you but 0-60 in 8 seconds is slower than a van full of people...
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