Better Place Inc. has opened two new battery replacement stations on Road 1 (the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway) and on Road 6 (the Cross-Israel Highway). On Road 1, the station is located at the Ein Hemed interchange, and Road 6, it is located on the northbound side of the highway at the Baka el-Garbiyeh exit.
"These are traffic arteries in Israel," said Better Place. "7,000 vehicles use Road 1 per hour at peak times, and more than 160,000 vehicles use Road 6 per day. The opening of these stations is an important step for Better Place toward the completion of the north-to-south network of battery replacement stations."
Better Place has installed 40 battery replacement stations to date. The automatic replacement takes five minutes. Currently, there are only 500 electric cars on Israel's roads, but the company says that it has signed agreements with more than 60 companies, including Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL), HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT), and Keter Plastic Ltd. to buy electric cars.
"The rationale in deploying stations at an average of 40 kilometers from each other is to provide the best service, in line with the vision of a smooth and continuous ride," said Better Place Israel CEO Moshe Kaplinsky. "In addition to opening stations in remote parts of the country, it's important for us to have a presence on the country's main roads, which will strengthen drivers' coverage range of electric cars."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 17, 2012
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