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Better Place to Import US-Assembled Electric Cars to Israel for Field Tests
3 November 2008
Globes. Better Place plans to import an initial ten electric vehicles assembled in the US for field tests for the Better Place project in Israel. The EVs will test the recharging infrastructure and navigation technology, train technical teams, and be used to demonstrate the potential of the electric car fleet to potential customers.
Better Place, headed by Shai Agassi, confirmed the report, saying, “The cars slated for tests in Israel are being assembled in the US and will arrive in Israel soon.”
It is not yet clear which platform will be the basis for the electric car. However, industry sources believe that it will be a family car made by either Chrysler or Chevrolet, both of which sell cars in Israel. This will facilitate standards procedures. Alternatively, European cars, possibly made by Renault SA will be flown to the US where they will be fitted with electric motors and batteries.
Globes reports that the selection of the US was apparently driven by the recent investment in A123Systems by Ofer Holdings Group. Idan Ofer is the Chairman of the Board of Better Place. (Earlier post.)
November 3, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Lad | November 03, 2008 at 12:48 PM
"Alternatively, European cars, possibly made by Renault SA will be flown to the US where they will be fitted with electric motors and batteries."
What is the carbon footprint of this? And why would the cars have to be flown, rather than shipped by boat, to the US, and why couldn't they be fitted in Europe with electric motors and batteries? This sounds completely non-sensical to me and I hope somebody just got their facts wrong.
Posted by: Peter | November 03, 2008 at 06:15 PM
%Peter:
I think they are talking about the assembly of test cars; however, when "Better Place"(BP) gets up to speed, you are talking about a market in Australia alone of 15 million cars over a ten year period, plus the Denmark and Israel markets. Right now Renault and Nissan have signed up to supply cars to Israel; with Renault building the chassis and Nissan supplying the batteries through a partnership with NEC. Perhaps BP is using A123 batteries until Nissan can prove their batteries... just a guess.
Posted by: Lad | November 03, 2008 at 07:45 PM
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