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Better Place

Better Place Refuels Electric Car Commuters In Israel

Refueling newly developed electric cars in Israel may be one step closer to being commonplace with an agreement reached between Israel Railways and the Better Place electric car and energy terminal company.

Better Place, which we’ve covered in depth currently in the process of developing practical electric powered cars, as well as recharging stations for them, has agreed to install up to 220 charging terminals in railway parking lots in a number of stations. They are Bat Galim, Central Haifa, Acre, Beit Yehoshua, Herzliya, Hod Hasharon, Rosh Ha’ayin, Petah Tikva Segula, Kiryat Arie Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, and Pe’atei Modi’in.

08/07/2009 1 comment

Clean Transportation

San Jose Leading Electric Vehicle Charge in California

written by

While San Francisco and Portland are each publicly claiming they’ll have the best electric vehicle networks in place in their cities, San Jose may be have made the most progress.

The city of San Jose has installed 7 charging stations so far, including spots at City Hall and a public parking garage. At the charging locations vehicle owners don’t pay for the power; instead they are charged based on the time in the parking spot. To simplify payment, EV owners get a keychain fob that’s connected to their credit card.

Nanci Klein, the manager of corporate outreach for the city, says vehicle chargers are being added to light poles in “key neighborhoods.” The city will take advantage of its control of the right of way on light poles (which will be upgraded as they are repaired) and in parking garage to create a network that will incentivize residents to purchase plug-in and battery-electric vehicles. San Jose’s redevelopment agency, as well as the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, have contributed funding to the project.

07/29/2009 2 comments

Clean Transportation Renewable Energy

Jim Woolsey: Energy Security, Renewables and Salt

written by Ian Thomson

Last night I had the dubious distinction of being the guy sitting next to former director of the CIA, Ambassador, and Undersecretary of the Navy (a post he held before I was born), and current Senior Vice President of Booz Allen Hamilton and partner at Vantage Point Venture Partners, R. James Woolsey.

He has a fairly clear message that he is happy to share with anyone that will listen:

The United States is at grave risk to both “malignant” and “malevolent” disruptions to the grid and that threat can be addressed through distributed renewable generation which can simultaneously reduce the importance of oil to the ignominious fall from grace of salt.

I have had the pleasure of hearing him speak and spending some time with him before moderating last night’s event, and despite how highly I thought of him before, he did not disappoint. His is a decidedly aggressive approach to the US’ energy future, and like the well trained litigator he is, he presents his case very well. Electric vehicles and distributed renewables are the hallmarks of an utopian (utopic?) energy future, that would leave OPEC states reeling with the need to find, as he puts it, honest work, and reducing the disposable cash reserves some currently use to fund terrorist activities.

04/30/2009 5 comments

Clean Transportation

Shai Agassi named to Time 100 list of world’s most influential people

written by Jonathan Shapira

Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO of Better Place, the electric car infrastructure start-up, was named today to the Time 100, a list of the world’s most influential people.

This is the second year running that a leader of Israel’s cleantech industry has been named to the Time 100. Isaac Berzin, founder of GreenFuel Technologies and the Institute for Alternative Energy Resarch at IDC Herzliya, made the list in 2008.

Agassi was born in Ramat Gan, Israel and graduated from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, where he received a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Better Place has raised more than $300 million and is partnering with utilities and governments to install its electric vehicle infrastructure in Israel, Denmark, Australia, Portugal, Ontario, Hawaii, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Better Place’s primary R&D center is in Israel.

04/30/2009 2 comments

Clean Transportation

Green Tech Moving Forward: California Charges Ahead on Trains, Plans and Automobiles

written by KG

Coming into its own as a clean tech superpower, California is barreling full-speed ahead with sustainable mobility in spite of federal static and U.S. automakers’ morass.

The same day analysts worried Detroit’s Big Three might bail on cleaner cars without a bailout of their own, the Golden State celebrated a sweeping climate action plan to lower greenhouse gases and meet its self-appointed goal to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

12/15/2008 3 comments

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