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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’.

New Lexus Concept teased for Frankfurt. Is this the Lexus RC, the IS Coupe?

New Lexus Concept teased for Frankfurt With the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show now just a few weeks away, car makers are starting to tease their offerings, with this morning’s coming from Lexus with a tease photo for a new Lexus Concept. Lexus aren’t giving anything away, but it does look like this tease could be for the new Lexus RC – and a powerful RC-F – Coupe, a two-door version of the latest IS. That makes more sense from the proportions we can work out in the photo than a  first look at a more compact, sub-RX – SUV we also know is in the works, but we wonder how different it will be from the concept for the latest IS.

Next Dodge Viper will shed some rough edges

Little by little we're getting a clearer picture of the next-generation Dodge Viper SRT10. During a conversation with Dodge boss Reid Bigland at the Los Angeles auto show, Bigland told me the redesigned Viper "will appeal to a broader segment of the market." The car is expected to debut in 2012 but is not likely to appear at the Detroit auto show, he says. Today's Viper is essentially a street-legal race car.