The Israeli company Energtek (EGTK.ob) has developed a new alternative technology allowing motorcycles to be powered with natural gas.

According to a report in the Jpost: “Energtek has developed a system to power two- and three- wheeled vehicles with natural gas. The motorcycles and scooters use gas canisters that can be replaced in less than a minute, without the need for special refueling stations, CEO Lev Zaidenberg said. The technology also makes it more cost efficient to tap so-called stranded gas in reservoirs that aren’t large enough to justify building a pipeline.”

The company plans to target Asia, where there are more than 250 million two- and three-wheeled vehicles. The company plans on doing a private placement shortly in order to fund the initiative, and they claim that they will be profitable in 2010.

It’s funny because Israel never had an auto or transportation industry, but because of the country’s global technological edge in alternative energies, an alternative transportation industry is starting to pop up. From natural gas powered motorcycles to electric cars, as in Project Better Place,  to GreenRoad Technologies, - Zack” Cleantech” Miller’s favorite-who employ a in-vehicle device that improves driver safety and betters fuel consumption for car fleets, maybe just maybe Israel will be the Detroit of the 21st century.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has no position in any stock mentioned as of 7/30/08.

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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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Globes out today with an article about Project Better Place CEO, Shai Agassi’s recent address to the House of Representative’s Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.  Agassi, an Israeli uber-entreprenuer who had sold his software firm to German software giant SAP, had pretty compelling statitics backing his new venture — a venture focused on developing the infrastructure for mass-market electric cars.

Couple of points from Agassi’s presentation

• for the cost of 2 months of oil ($100B), the U.S. could put in place electric car infrastructure to end oil dependence
• for the price of 1 year worth of oil ($500B), the U.S. could “creat[e] fully renewable electrical generation sufficient to power all of the nation’s vehicles”
• Operating costs for electric cars is about $0.06/mile while traditional combustion engines cost $0.16/mile

You can see the entire webcast that took place last week here.  It’s an Interesting discussion and we’ve discussed Agassi’s plans previously on this site.  We’ve also interviewed one of his initial investors, Israel Cleantech.  Shai’s blog is also a good resource for his plans.

Shai and Co. have made a lot of PR success in Israel and it appears that from a partnership perspective, they are putting the pieces together.  Large Israeli investors continue to throw money at cleantech and it appears U.S. investors are also getting bulled up on the project.

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