Hana Levi Julian Israeli 'Green Machine' Gears UpBy the end of this year, Israel will become the first nation on the planet to host a national electric car network. Better Place, the firm that came up with the technology for the vehicles, was founded by Israeli businessman Shai Agassi; the cars are built by Renault-Nissan.
The electric car to be used has no exhaust pipe and no gas cap, but rather a simple electric socket instead. It runs on a 450-lb. lithium-ion battery and can go as far as 140 miles before the battery needs to be swapped or recharged.Designated free car parks in a network of 200 “swap stations” around the country will take care of that, Agassi says, with the power for the batteries to come from solar technology now under development in the Negev.
"Green is clean," assert the high-tech moguls who lead the more than 1,000 clean-technology start-ups in Israel, and foreign investors clearly agree. Israel boasts more companies on the high-tech NASDAQ stock exchange than any other nation outside the United States. Although Israelis have also suffered from the financial crash that sent the world into a tailspin in 2009, the Jewish State appears to be recovering more quickly than other economies, including the U.S.
Doc's Talk: Israel's 'Green Machine' Gears Up for 2010
