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Better Place Electric Car visitor centre opens

Better Place have opened a visitor centre in Israel to demonstrate their battery swap technology for electric cars Last October we wrote about a start-up company in Israel – Better Place – that had a new way forward for electric cars by taking the purchase of battery packs out of the equation, and was developing a system for ‘Battery Swap’ stations where electric car owners could drive in and swap their battery pack for a fully-charged one in a few minutes. That story first brought to our attention our favourite quote of last year – by Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn – who said “A hybrid is like a mermaid: if you want a fish, you get a woman; if you want a woman, you get a fish.” Which probably explained why Nissan – and its partner Renault – got involved with Better Place. Better Place aims to address the main concerns of electric car drivers by making the battery packs in electric cars ‘swappable’.

Chrysler 200C EV unveiled at Detroit auto show 2009

By James Foxall Motor Shows 12 January 2009 13:07 With the years of elaborate stage sets and money-burning stunts such as driving cars through plate glass windows consigned firmly to the history books, Chrysler’s 2009 Detroit Motor Show stand was a sober place to be. While Ford and General Motors executives chose largely to ignore the financial crisis and government bail outs by pretending they hadn’t happened, Chrysler president Jim Press started his presentation by cracking jokes about it. He then outlined how the company – in an aggressive restructuring programme before the credit crisis – was responding.

Karmann-Ghia launches contest for Brazilian design students

Karmann-Ghia has launched a competition for Brazilian students to design a modern interpretation of its classic Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia Coupé. Students will be competing for a top prize of R$100,000 (US$49,750) with the possibility that the winning design will be developed into a prototype. The student awarded second place will earn themselves R$60,000 (US$29,800) while the third placed entry is worth R$14,884 (US$7,350).