By Eden
Despite not manufacturing cars, trains, buses or planes, Israel has positioned itself as a leader in transportation technology.
As the transportation sector tends to become more automated, Israel’s high-tech prowess has not only become relevant but highly sought after around the world.
It is that the most high-profile developments for the future of transport technology today revolve around electrification and leaving polluting fossil fuels behind.
ISRAEL21c in English presents 10 new companies from Israel working to electrify travel by land and air.
1 StoreDot
Even with the higher range of the latest electric vehicles (EVs), the worry of anyone running out of power far from a charging station remains a major concern for potential EV buyers.
How many kilometers are enough to feel that one will not be stranded? A StoreDot Ultra-Fast Charge UFC Battery VE can be fully recharged in just five minutes.
It is that StoreDot replaces the graphite used by other electric battery manufacturers with a mixture of metalloids that includes silicon and proprietary organic compounds synthesized in their laboratories.
The company has teamed up with BP Ventures to help convert the oil company’s 18,000 service stations to electric, and with German manufacturer Daimler.
In 2020, StoreDot also expanded into the fast charging drone sector.
2. Addionics
“Battery technology hasn’t changed in the last 30 years,” said Moshiel Biton, CEO of Addionics. The status quo caused the entrepreneur to tackle an opportunity that he today describes as worth “trillions of dollars.” Addionics uses nanotechnology to increase the density of electric batteries by finding space that is not well used. If most electric batteries are like a sandwich with the bread as the conductor of electricity and the cheese as the active material, Addionics layers the cheese and bread throughout the sandwich instead of just leaving the cheese on top, as is the case with current batteries. This increases the charging speed (half the power-up time) and the range.
Addionics’ “smart” electrodes can be easily integrated into existing production lines. Addionics goes beyond cars and hopes to bring its technology to laptops, medical devices and wearable devices.
3. Driivz
Regardless of how a battery is built – lithium ions, synthetic metalloids or nanometer energy – drivers still have to plug in their vehicles.
Startup Driivz builds charging points and software to manage a “cloud-based electric vehicle charging network.” These days, the company’s technology is used by more than a million drivers worldwide. Driivz was founded by parking specialist Tsahi Merkur (owner of 100 such lots in Israel), who acquired some of the assets of Israeli electric car pioneer Better Place after its bankruptcy in 2013.
In 2016, Driivz became an IT solutions provider for EVgo, the largest network of public fast-charging stations in the US.
In December last year, US fuel and equipment company Gilbarco Veeder Root acquired Driivz for $200 million.
4. REE Automotive
“If battery technology has changed nothing in three decades, the cars themselves are based on concepts that are more than a century old,” said Daniel Barel, CEO of REE Automotive. This company puts the wheels, gears, transmission, and motor on a thin, flat deck that looks like a big skateboard. REE’s is lightweight, which is ideal for electric vehicles – which are already heavy – and allows more batteries to be installed in a car to increase autonomy.
REE’s integrated gearbox weighs just six kilos compared to typical gearboxes weighing 100 kilos or more. On the other hand, the REE platform can be used in a passenger car or a ten-ton truck. While designing a new vehicle platform can cost billions, REE’s universality has the potential to save customers a small fortune.
Today, REE has alliances with large corporations such as Hitachi and Mitsubishi-Renault-Nissan.
5. Chakratec
As with StoreDot, Chakratec’s goal is to speed up battery charging. In Sanskrit, “chakra” means “spinning wheel”. Chakratec’s floating flyers, suspended by magnetic levitation, are destined for the charging station. Ilan Ben-David, the company’s CEO, compared Chakratec’s kinetic storage technology to a Hanukkah whirligig: “When you turn on electricity, the flywheel starts spinning. Since the flywheel is suspended by magnets in a vacuum chamber, there is almost no friction so it keeps spinning at the same speed.”
The flywheel stores electricity until the battery is ready to be transferred to a vehicle. Plus, it’s more environmentally friendly than typical charging stations that store electricity from the power grid in large lithium-ion batteries. In Sanskrit, “chakra” means “spinning wheel”.
Chakratec is a partner of Blink Charging of the USA.
6. ElectReon
Having to stop and refuel or a battery is a very old fashioned thing. That’s why Israel startup ElectReon builds roadside energy infrastructure so vehicles can charge wirelessly on the go.
ElectReon installs copper coils under the pavement and a receiver in the car while a management unit communicates with other vehicles.
The first pilot test was carried out in 2019 on a 600-meter stretch in Tel Aviv. Electric buses from the Dan company were used there.
The company later demonstrated its technology in Sweden with an electric bus and truck. Two more projects will soon be realized in Karlsruhe (Germany) and along a toll road in Lombardy (Italy).
In 2021, TIME magazine named ElectReon to its “Best Inventions of the Year” list.
7. EVR Motors
EVR Motors some time ago introduced its new state-of-the-art electric motor that measures and weighs less than half of other similar devices that use a radial flux permanent magnet (RFPD).
Today, the company builds dozens of pre-production engines to deliver to individual customers for evaluation.
EVR Motors aims to license its technology to third parties and open its own assembly line in Israel to deliver motors at scale in the second half of 2022. It will also partner with Tier 1 integrators and automakers.
EVR’s first motor weighs just nine kilos. A Tesla motor weighs 35.
This company’s motors generate high power for their size due to higher flux, better copper utilization, heat dissipation and thermal capacity.
8. CT Transformer
Bicycles for two people already exist. But how about a small electric car built for just one passenger? In urban environments, where parking is an issue, the CityTransformer will always get by just fine. This super small vehicle folds up to take up even less space. Four CityTransformers can fit in a single standard parking space. This vehicle has a range of 120 to 180 kilometers and a maximum speed of 90 kilometers per hour.
Israeli volunteer emergency response organization United Hatzalah signed on as a client and has reportedly already purchased 1,000 CityTransformers in a deal worth $22 million.
The passenger cars (pre-orders are $14,500) will ship in 2025.
“More than 4 billion people live in urban areas and that will increase in the coming years. People need vehicles for city centers, for narrow streets, for the world of tomorrow,” said Asaf Formoza, CEO of the company.
9. AIR
In October the startup AIR from Israel presented its “flying car” Air One. That two-seater can take off and land vertically. Unlike other VTOL vehicles, intended to serve as air taxis or for emergency response use, the Air One is aimed at the private passenger market and is priced at $200,000 per unit. Unlike competitors like Urban Aeronautics’ CityHawk, which will be powered by hydrogen fuel cells, the Air One will be an all-electric flying car with a range of 100 miles at a top speed of 150 miles per hour.
The company’s CEO, Rani Plaut, said he hopes to start commercial production in 2024 as long as AIR receives approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Air One is collapsible and shrinks down to the size of a standard pickup truck. The company announced it is now accepting $1,000 deposits from enthusiastic early adopters.
10 Eviation
The startup Eviation developed a fully electric plane called “Alice” with a capacity for nine people plus a pilot and a range of 740 kilometers. It is estimated that the first commercial flights could begin in 2024.
In 2019, the company landed its first customer, Cape Air in Massachusetts. Last year it placed an order for 12 units as part of its zero emissions plan. Omer Bar-Yohay, the company’s CEO, noted that the future of electric planes will mean a calmer environment for residents living near airports. Singapore’s Clermont Group owns 70 percent of Eviation and provides it with electric motors from its MagniX division.
Three years ago, TIME magazine added Eviation to its list of the “100 Best Inventions” of 2019.