שני גברים ומכונית חשמלית

תגובה אחת

1. Dear Izhar,
   You are right that an initiative to reduce dependence on carbon fuels, and foreign oil and petrol in patrticular, reduce pollution, and save on the high costs of car operation and maintenance is a blessed initiative that we all should appaluad.

   But just before I break out in a sweat clapping and appluading the enthusiastically, the Giants who will make this dream come true let's examine some of the assertions you make in support of the Agassi/Ofer – Better Place initiative:

   1. Enverionmental Benefits:
   At best negligible, at worst negative impact. The elect4ricity "pumped" into the Better Place cars, and batteries, is produced by power stations using carbon based fuels to rpoduce the electricity. So whether you propel many cars with petrol, or use elctricity produced from petrol, there is no reduction in consumption of polluting carbon fuels. Of course you could use nuclear power, which is environmentally clean, but represents other environmental risks, and spent fuel storage problems, making it at least as risky and dangerous as carbon based pollution. Also keep in mind that through transmission in cables from the power plant to the charging station there are significant losses of electricity, and radiation to the environment, which are not "sidfe effects" of the power produced by the Internal Combustion Engine operated with carbon fuels. And unless the rules of physics have changed, I seem to remember from my high-school that to move a mass the same amount of energy is required (regardless of the way that energey is produced). Consequently, moving a car where the loss of energy produced through carbon fuels is smaller than the loss of energy lost through transmission of the electricity from the power station to the charging pole, would be more efficient, and would reduce the amount of carbon fuels used to create the energy.

   Add to this the fact that the weight of the batteries is significant and adds about 20% to the weight of the vehicle, which means that 20% more energy will have to be used by the electric battery propelled car than in its petrol/gasoline propelled counterpart.

   The disposal of the batteries is another problem which has not been raised. The batteries contain toxic materials which are not recyclable. Assuming the targets of Better Place to reach at least 1,000,000 battery powered cars in Israel, and even accepting their assertion that the batery can be recharged 1,000 times (good for 100 Km per charge), it implies that the batteries become obsolete after 100,000 KM. Assuming that every car in Israel travels on the average 25,000 Km per year, it means that every year 250,000 batteries (each weighing some 350 Kg) must be disposed of safely. This could create a major environmental problem!

   Have you also considered the risks of an electric car battery breaking up after a colission? The potential of harm to the driver and passangers is far greater than those in a car collision a car(s) powered by a "conventional" power train.

   Consequently, the argument that a battery operated vehicle is safer for the environment is a false and misleading premise. Admittedly, the amount of pollution in the large cities will be reduced a bit, but these savings in pollution can be acheived in different methods, without increasing the use of carbon fuels by power stations..

   2. REduction in cost of Operation and Maintenance
   Yet another false claim. The "packages" offered by Better Place seem to be every bit as costly as operating a gasoline powered vehicle. Furthermore, if the company achieves its target of One MIllion cars on the Israeli roads, the demand for electricity will increase the price of electricity, as the demand for electricity (produced by ever scarcer carbon fuels) will climb. Add to that the cost of maintaining an electric motor, for which there are not many trained technicians and mechanics, and as the laws of supply and demand suggest, the cost of repeairing the electric car will be higher than that of a gasoline operated vehicle, for which technicians are plentiful.

   The re-sale price of an electric car also represents an issue. With battery technology improving, a three year first generation battery operated car will have very limited market appeal, and its depreciation and lower market price on the used car market will become a significant disadvantage.

   3. Reliance on foreign fuels
   It will not be reduced. If anything, with the increased demand for electricity, the import of foreign based carbon fuels will increase. Of course there is the possibility that with the new discoveries of Gas and Oil in the region, those could be used to generate power in the power plants.

   But if Israel's main source of carburants for its power plants will be natural gas, it would be much easier and safer to pump the gas directly into the slightly modified car engines already rolling on our roads. It has been proven that natural gas is cleaner compared to gasoline, and a single tank of natural gas gives the same range of travel as a tank full of gasoline.

   So before castigating all those comments and talkbacks ridiculing the Better Place venture, try and consider objectively its merits, after all as a VC you surely can identify the "big holes" in the proposal. Indeed a sophisticated (too sophisticated) business model, but not one which holds water under careful scrutiny. All it achieves, is creating a demand for electric power, and a monopoly advantage for first to market, through the capture of "Charging stations" and a captive client base, being charged very high prices for electricity which is much cheaper when the domestic home socket is used.

   The Agassi/Ofer proposition has no single advantage to the consumer! The only ones to benefit from it will be Ofer's power stations, and Agassi's ego!

   So before tharshing those who have considered the facts behind the hype, glitz, and ptropaganda, keep in mind an old saying: You can fool some of the people all the time, you can fool all the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time! Also, consider another saying: "When two people tell you that you're drunk, you'd better go and lie down!". I think it is high time to try and stop the public from shouting "the Emepror is naked", and avoid the pain and suffering that will be caused by the failure of this venture, which is reliant on a huge amount of public money!

   הגב