Israel On Blog

The Israeli government has decided practically to adopt an electrical car project called the "Better Place Project " by Mr. Shai Agassi & Mr. Idan Offer. The project itself was publicly announced about 2 months ago at a well covered press conference in New York.

On it’s basic terms, the project offers almost an Utopian vision of a world in which customers will be able to purchase electrical cars, from any car manufacturer, at relatively low prices (without batteries). New companies will be created only for this purpose, and will provide the necessary maintenance and service – e.g. batteries charging stations and batteries replacement spots etc.

In addition, thousands of charging stations will be deployed on a large scale almost everywhere at supermarkets, shopping malls parking lots, private residences, etc.

One may compare the project to the ubiquitous cellular phone services which enable every customer to buy any cell phone of any brand and use any cellular supplier he wishes to use. As the cellular companies have spread cellular antennas all over the countries, so does "Better Place Project" intend to spread an enormous number of charging spots in any participating nation.

At their press conference, Agasi & Offer announced that they managed to obtain a sum of 200 million dollars from top investors like Morgn Stanley Bank, Edgar Bronfman, James Wolfenson & the "Chevra Le Israel" of the Offer Brothers Group. No one disputes the fact that motor vehicles running on internal combustion engines, pollute the air we are breathing, not just in Israel but worldwide. Their contribution to polluting emissions and for global warming is a fact beyond any doubt.

Just take a look at some of the details about how serious the problem is in Israel.

According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (for the year 2006) motor vehicles are responsible for 96% of the total carbon monoxide emissions in the country, 86.5% of the total hydrocarbon emissions, 32.4% of the of the total nitrogen oxides and 21.2% of the total carbon dioxide emissions – the primary green house gas, and in addition to that a significant amount of microscopic particulate matter, exclusively at urban areas and usually at elevations which penetrate and harms the respiratory system.

The combination of rising oil prices (one barrel used to be sold a year ago for US$ 60 and today it’s close to US$ 100 ) and the threat of global warming, which almost no one argues against anymore, has led to a wave of creative inventions and technology developments like Agasi’s and Offer’s "Better Place Project".

It is Agasi’s brilliant way of thinking that led to the magnificent idea behind "Better Place Project". He actually managed to shift the focus from developing high end technology for car batteries towards investments in infrastructure in which car batteries will become a part of the basic infrastructure which driving electrical cars will be based on.

In other words, car batteries will be available for recharge or for replacement almost everywhere you’ll drive. It seems as if the government initiative is mostly welcome and even serves the national security needs of the country, as the need for oil in the Western world keeps strengthening international terrorist groups that are mostly supported by the Arab oil country producers.

But on the other hand it seems as if there is still a long way to go before Agsi’s project can be implemented. At this stage the government decided to establish a pronunciation committee which will lead some professional teams to promote the initiative. Basic conclusions will be presented to the government at the beginning of December.

But we all know how committees, professional teams, and similar working groups do their work in Israel. They might eventually reach a conclusion or a agree on a solution, but it’s usually too late. The government of Israel should support and carry out an urgent procedure with a specific time table to fight air pollution in Israel. It should face this terrible number: "1′300" – 1′300 people are dying every year in the Tel Aviv vicinity only, as a result of air pollution leading to health complication.

"Better Place Project" is a very ambitious, interesting and promising project , but its chances of becoming a reality are still far fetched, it still faces a long and complicated bureaucratic procedure with a lot of regulation and economic problems.

As always, it’s lot easier for the government to find more simple projects to prevent air pollution than to embark on a project with a green scent.

Ariel Oelsner, Attorney of Law.

Ariel Oelsner (LLb. & BS.c Agr.) has been practicing law for 6 years, he consulted the Minster of Environmental Protection at the Ministry of Environmental Protection Office and specializes on environmental law and on civil law. He serves, at full time ,as the legal consultant for "MALRAZ" a green non profit organization in Tel Aviv and volunteers as a legal consultant for The Israeli Horse Protection Society.

arieladv@hotmail.com