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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’.

BMW i8 Spied

The BMW i8 being filmed for BMW TV Just the other day we brought you the BMW i3 out playing in Scandinavia so, to complete the set, we thought we’d add to that with the BMW i8 doing exactly the same. These photos of the i8 being snapped in the snow are being reported as camouflaged cold-weather testing for BMW’s new “i” range of cars. Which – if you look carefully at the front of the i8 above – would seem unlikely.

Aston Martin V8 Vantage S launches

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage S - available as Coupe or Roadster The Aston Martin V8 Vantage S has launched with an extra 10bhp over the regular V8. Just 10bhp more than the regular V8 doesn’t sound a lot, but there is more than just a smidge of extra power to the V8 Vantage S. The extra 10bhp the V8 Vantage S gets is tweaked from the regular Aston Martin V8 Vantage, but there’s also an extra 15lb/ft of torque.