I am an official Ambassador of the Pickens Plan. I would like to encourage Shai to sign up and sign in. There are so many groups and discussions on electric cars, it's too much fun sometimes.

But seriously, we need participation by people in industry at this level.

Boone's natural gas transportaion bridge solution leads right to Shai.

Let's don't wait until Shai is 80, lay the groundwork for the transportation revolution and a fond farewell to the ICE at http://www.pickensplan.com

sincerely,
Pat Jack
Official Ambassador for the Pickens Plan

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So it's based on a Renault Megane? That's intersting. I thought they would use something tiny.

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Mirko, That was the rumor and that's what it looks like.

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Have a look of the pictures of the box under the hood... it's a metal box with a fan behind it and two plugs on the right side.
Now have a look at this:
http://www.acpropulsion.com/technology/gen2.htm

I think now we know who powers the PBP cars ;)

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I can't get Firefox to play the darn thing. Does this mean there's a working prototype? Excellent if that's the case.

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OK, here are the key points in that clip:
First 30 seconds : The rise of oil prices.
Next minute - an overview of the electric Megane. Race between 2 Meganes - the petrol one ( yellow plateau ) vs. the electric ( read plateau ).
The dream of Agassi - to heal us from the oil addiction.
01:30-02:00 A short story of Agassi: Technion ( university ) , CEO in SAP company and the forum in Davos that changed his life.
02:00-02:30 Meeting with Shimon Peres ( now our President ) - Peres convinced him to abandon his work and concentrate on the Project Better Place.
03:00-04:00 A very brief history - oil displaced electricity, the main problem was batteries.
The failure of the electric car and Bob Lutz is described as the killer of EV1.
But Agassi says - Bob Lutz told him a couple of weeks age that EV is THE future of cars.
04:10 - The Agassi's business model: 3 players needed:
1. The manufacturer of EV cars
2. The producer of batteries
3. Nationalwide infrastructure of recharging points.
Since the battery range is limited to 200 km - In couple of minutes the battery is replaced at service points.
05:10 - Cost of driving such a car 1/3 to 1/2 of a regular one because of the cheap electricity.
05:40 Agassi insists that a major car manufacturer is required.
Agassi gets a moral support from any Israel minister incl. PM but no money. For the infrastructure he drafts 200M $ from Idan Ofer (06:00) - Ofer family controls our oil refinery business ! Agassi's explanation to that phenomenon - oil is a source for energy - and I suggest a better sourse.
06:30-07:00 The first meeting of Agassi's team incl. the former vice chief of staff IDF (army ) Moshe Kaplinski.
07:15 - 08:00 Show us a real Jap. EV that gets 400 km/h. A car engineer admits that although EV does produce pollutions ( Electricity production is polluting ) - but no tailpipe emissions, cities are clean and generally - much less pollution. A special committee recommended to tax EVs 10% instead of 78% on the next 7 years.
08:10 Agassi tells that a long term tax discount is a key factor to success.
08:30-09:00 Doubts about the program ( should our state be a pioneer in such a great project , can we produce enough electricity etc. )
09:10 - Agassi foresees mass production by 2010. He is afraid of not trying, rather than failure. He is afraid to stay 1 day without oil and all the economics collapse.

Now you can view that clip once again.
http://www.keshet-tv.com/VideoPage.aspx?MediaID=30460&SourceID=27

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here's the translation from hearing(with obvious language corrections):

anchor woman: Oil prices are racing up today once again, almost 50 dollars per barrel
anchor man: oil prices won't stop climbing(54$ a barrel)
>>>61 $ a barrel

>>>75 $ a barrel

anchor man: the oil hit the alltime record getting to 92 $ another record.
woman anchor:more than 100 $ for oil price is not an apocaliptic forecast but the actual reality we bring you from new york.

Voice over(when Agasi enters the car):
after months of speculations, doubts and rumors Shai agasi presents the electric car(fastens seat belt).
AGASI(driving):people say all the time; the car won't be driven,
others say the car will be driven(meaning wether its realistic or not) - pay attention!
voice: from the outside the car looks absolutely regular, but when you are sitting inside,
you can't feel the engine roar at all.
agasi: do you hear the noise?
reporter: this is the noise(confrims the quite humming)
agasi:this is the noise = no noise.

voice:no noise because the engine is electric.
agasi:see that its empty(the fuel gauge) - no fuel.
voice: and yet, to prove us that the vehicle is working ---agasi:shall we arrange a race?
voice: agasi arranging a small competition with an identical car driving with fuel engine, running on oil.
agasi(laughing):thats it' you got it(after beating for short distance the fuel car)?!

voice: another victory for agasi in his race to rehabilitate(detoxicate) us from our dependency in oil.
at the age of 18 agasi recieved his degree from the Technion institution, at 20 founded start up company,
10 years later he sold it for 400 milion NIS(almost 100$ milion today) to german software giant SAP,
where he became number 2 in rank, the manager of technological development and had under cotrol a
research and developement budget of 1.5 bilion dollars.
agasi:i was sitting at SAP, i knew i was going to be the next CEO - it was pretty obvious to me -
the issue was presented as early as in 2005 and i knew it was just a matter of time.

voice:and then agasi took a three days ttrip which has changed his life - forum of young leaders in Dabos.
there everyone where being asked "how can you make the world a better place?" and agasi started developing
his idea for electric car.
there was someone else who heard and got excited(02:20). his name is Shimon Peres(President of Israel)
agasi:when the president heard that - he was the Minister of the office of regeional developement and
introduced to to a variaty of people from industry leaders to the prime minister himself. he told them:
look what this man has to say". he asked me a simple question:"do you think it can be done?"
and i said:"yes, i think today it can be done", so he replied: "then what is so important
about your work today that prevents you from solving the most difficult problem of humanity?
and i didn't have an answer for him.
so i came home, and after three days i resigned my job.
voice:the electric car has been with us since the 19th century(03:00). there was even a time when electric cars
were the majority, but then the black gold appeared in our lives. and it was simply poot a better source
of energy.
Shmuel ben ari says(Car engeneer):actually the main problem with those vehicles was the battery,
the driving range, and cars performance that derived from the batteries capability was always a problem.
this type of car was negligible, no one really invested in its developement. even when GM introduced
such a car to the world a decade ago, she defined the project as failure(03:30).it looked like the car doesn't have
any chance to succeed.
Agasi:
we are here to say goodbye to a certain concept. some may claime that gathering to mourn relating to a vehicle
is overreaching. when bob Lutz, the one who killed the electric car in the famous movie, that closed EV1 told us
this week:"car's future is electric and it is unavoidable. period(04:00). and when he says unavoidable it means
that it probably going to happen. public relation clip:"the electric car. what is the idea of shay agasi? he
developed a new business format for electric vehicles that consists of three parts(like in the army):
you need companies to build and manufacture the electric cars.
you need companies that will buy batteries and will charge them with electricity
and you need companies that will prepare the infrastructure(for charging and battery replacement).
agasi wants to start here(israel) the basic infrastructure which will include 500,000 charging points."at home,
at work, at the mall, and the streets(04:30). by simple docking the car is being charged till the next ride"
but the battery, so far, offers only 200 km driving range. "say you drove to eilat - in a distance of 400 km -
you don't have to wait or stand in the middle of the trip, you won't have to charge, you will enter to a battery
station, were your battery will be replaced as i a conveyor - a battery will be taken out and a new one put
inside, and you keep on driving. what is the price we'll pay? hard to say for sure(05:00).
but sources estimate that purchase and maitenance of electric car could be as cheep as 1/3 or half
of a price of a regular car.why?
agasi:"becasue the cost of fuel vs. cost of electricity significantly smaller.
this is a place to emphasize another point. many people thought we were talking about manufacturing a car by ourselves
and this is a big mistake.we set from the get go;the car maker must be one of the top five in the world.
if i said that we plan to manufacture the car in massive scale i would have told you to be aware. but if one of the
big ones says so, then its probably going to work."(05:30)
voice:with this idea agasi set to a new journey. with Peres' help he met investors and ministers of the government.
he presented the project to Fuad(infrastructure minister), barak(foremer PM) and the PM.
and he said:"if you find the money for the infrustructure and bring it to israel and find a car manufacturer
that is able to build this car and bring him here - you will feel the support of the office of the PM.with anything you
need. but we won't give you money."
so agasi raised 200 milion dollars for the infrastructure(06:00) - most of it camer from a person that traditionally was expected
to be against the idea - Idan Ofer, who's family controls the israeli oil refinery.the oil that runs to israel goes
through them.they understand that they are not really part of the oil industry. the industry that includes these companies
are part of, is the car energy. now if someone found a better energy for cars and more proffittable, why not explore it?
with the money and the new partner agasi came back to the governmen where commities were founded in order to test his project.
and while waiting(06:30) he is making a progress - "imagine you are steering in the holy land" this week was gathered his start
up team for a "thinker's marathon", next to him set foremer General(aluf) Moshe Kaplinsky, not so long ago, deputy chief
of staff of the joint cheafs in the israeli army - he will be the CEO in israeli of the project.and they are allready
exploring other options.so when testing procedures around the world, how should we prioritize?
you can see that the countries in white are those where the tax fuel is high - you can see that those are australia,
india, east european countries..."(07:00)
agasi:"there is deffinately my own will to see this taking place in israel(the project), but also a fearce will to see
it happening.during the last years the world is awakening and turning to wards developement of electric cars.
this is for example is the japanese electric that goes up to 400 km/h.electric cars are also very popular.
due to their reputation as green cars - green cars doesn't have an exhoust, it doesn't pollute at all(07:30).
shmuel ben ari:"a car that doesn't pollute - dose so elsewhere - we do need to charge it with electricity and the electricity
comes from a power station, so it may not pollute in Tel aviv center city but in the power station in Hadera it will continue
to do so.but due to its bigger efficiency electric car pollutes less than a regular car.
this week ministry of treasure published the conclusion of "green tax commitee" - they want to encourage the usage
of green vehicles. the commitee offers to dicrease purchase tax on electric cars(08:00) from 78% to 10 % for the next 7 years.
but meanwhile it is only a recomendation.
agasi:"an important part of all of this is understanding whether the tax policy is short term policy that may change tommorow
morning or a long term tax policy that will stay with us for a long time. and this question was presented to the government:
do you really mean it? there are still unsolved question regarding agasis's project, for instance - isn't it better
for the country to invest in smarter public transportation(08:30), instead of bringing more cars to the fully overloaded highways
and roads from the begining? what does this agenda mean for the electric reserves and capabilities, that allready cannot
withstand the rising demand for power? and should the goverment be the pioneer in a giant and complex experiment some
of which components are still in a process of developement?and maybe we should ask the oposite question:
can the country plan for long term periods and can it handle such a massive change(09:00)?
reporter:say, if all goes well, when will the massive production start?
agasi:my estimate is that we can reach a massive production in 2010
reporter?do you fear from failure?
agasi:i afraid not to try, i'm afraid of being scared.the biggest failure is if we don't try and one day we will fall down, we will be in a situation were we don't have fuel, we cannot generate our economy without fuel.this is scaring me
i'm afraid i've started too late".

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Please excuse my ignorance but does this whole concept of battery replacement centers seem like a waste of money?

i hear about some electric cars (ZAP) being able to be charged 80-100 percent in about 10 minutes with a charging station. These charging stations can be put in every gas station so we can have many more places to charge these cars at a lot less money.

Peace,
michael e. v. knight

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Emil and Vadim Golinsky, Thank you very much for the translations! I will update the post mentioning your great work :D Dave and everyone else having problems seeing the video, stay tuned.

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