Better Place, the world’s leading electric vehicle (EV) services provider has recently opened its company’s first electric vehicle demonstration center in Israel, which, as a symbolic gesture, was constructed inside an old oil tank located in one of Israel’s last remaining gasoline storage and distribution facilities.

The visitor center concept was developed, designed and produced by Promarket, the biggest Experience Marketing Company in Israel.

Protech Integration, an Israel-based AV integration company, designed, made, installed and programmed the entire multimedia and control system of the Better Place new demonstration center. Protech selected Medialon Manager Show and Media Control software to be the main AV controller of the Center.

The Visitor Center offers the public to come and familiarize themselves with all the aspects of the Better Place solution: a fully electric, battery-powered car and comprehensive infrastructure that includes charge spots and a battery switch station. From the outside, the 750-square-meter Center looks like a big concrete drum while inside visitors live a futuristic and unique virtual experience.

“The producer, Dror Leiba from Promarket, is the creator of the concept and has created a whole experience center. My task was to make his vision come true�, says Itay Salant, Project Manager from Protech Integration.

When entering the Center, guests are led into a 30-seat auditorium made of recycled car seats where they can watch a video on a large panorama screen describing the problems inherent to an automobile market based on fossil fuels. The exciting multimedia show continues with a hologram projection of Shay Agassi, the founder of Better Place. Individual screens are placed alongside the seats, giving the audience a feel of the EV driving experience. As part of the show, a real Renault Fluence Z car makes a grand appearance on a moving stage.

One Medialon Manager license controls all the AV equipment used on the show, including thirty High Definition video channels, which are played in frame accurate synchronization by Showlogix software players, DMX lighting, eight projectors, three LCD screens and a multichannel sound processor. The Medialon system is used to synchronize the Logix-4D controller with a three channel Dataton Watchout system, lighting effects and a moving stage. Thanks to Medialon Manager Panel software, Protech Engineering has designed touch panel user interfaces to allow the visitor centre guides to easily trigger events and shows via five Calypso IP touch panels.

The tour then gives each visitor the opportunity to drive an electric vehicle, which takes place on a specially-designed 1.5 kilometer test track. After driving the car, the guests are taken into the interactive Content Center where they receive answers to many questions concerning the electric solution. In the Content Center, Medialon Manager is used to control and interact with twenty-five custom Flash applications as well as a Database server. The result of this installation is to allow the synchronization of visitor touch interaction, peripheral lighting and multi-channel movies.

The tour is available to groups and individuals from Israel and abroad. Better Place expects to receive tens of thousands of visitors from Israel and abroad in its first year.

For further information, please visit: www.betterplace.com, www.promarket.co.il, www.protech-integration.com, www.medialon.com