An electric vehicle, and its maker, come home

New immigrants to Israel often bring new business ideas when they make aliyah. In the case of Micah Toll, a 22-year-old entrepreneur from Pittsburgh who is heading here this summer, Israel will be getting not only a new business, but maybe even a new industry – one that develops and builds two-, three-, and four-wheel electric vehicles.

Toll’s company, Pulse Motors, has already produced a two-wheel electric vehicle, called the PEV0 (Personal Electric Vehicle Zero), and it is in use right now at the University of Pittsburgh, where students zip around town on Pulse’s enhanced versions of electric bicycles. “We started the beta program at the beginning of the school year, and it’s been so successful that we extended it by several months,” Toll said in an interview with The Times of Israel. “We’ve been gathering data on the vehicle’s performance and using it to make improvements to our design.”

The PEV0 looks and acts like a revved-up bicycle with an attached motor, but it’s got its own streamlined personality that puts it several classes ahead of the standard electric bike. And it’s a product of the Pulse vision, which looks far beyond the PEV0 as an urban transportation solution. “We see the PEV vehicles as being the ultimate urban commuting vehicles,” Toll said.

Crowded cities are no place for gas-guzzling cars, which use up a lot of unnecessary resources; the PEV vehicles Pulse is touting make much more sense in urban environments for individuals who just need something to get around on, according to Toll. “City residents often find owning a car in a city to be a hassle and public transportation too limiting or uncomfortable. The PEV is designed to be easy to use, with conveniences people want.”

Among those features is a lithium ion phosphate battery that can plug into a home electrical outlet, a vast improvement over the current popular design of electric bikes made in the Far East, which “can’t even make it up a hill, in most cases.” Unlike the competition, the PEV0 is “built to last,” Toll said. Fully charged, the vehicle can go as fast as 30 miles per hour, although an average of 20 is more common.

But the PEV0 is just the beginning; Toll and his partners, Max Pless and Thorin Tobiassen, are constantly working to improve their design, and the company eventually intends to come out with a full line of vehicles, with two, three, and four wheels.

The development of those designs will be taking place in Israel, where Toll is moving at the end of the summer. While the decision to make aliyah is personal for Toll – he is active in Jewish and Zionist organizations on campus, and is engaged to an Israeli – he believes in Israel as a place to do business as well.

Especially the business he’s in. “Israel is the perfect place to develop and sell our PEVs. Israelis already have embraced two-wheel transportation and electric vehicles, especially in Tel Aviv. In addition, we want to be able to tap into Israel’s start-up spirit. The country is full of smart and talented engineers whom we want to work with.”

The plan is to open an R&D center in Israel which will collaborate with a team in Pittsburgh, enhancing the current design and building new vehicles, which will be marketed both in the US and Israel. “That way we can take advantage of the innovation in Israel, combine it with the work we’ve already started in the US, and grow into a successful international company built on the foundation of international collaboration,” Toll said.

With Israelis already proving that they are willing to embrace electric vehicles, such as the ones to be sold by Brightsource, he is certain his vehicles will succeed in Israel too.

Toll is set to graduate with a degree in engineering this year. He said he’s seen his share of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist sentiment on campus, and has been harassed for his pro-Israel activities.

He has been a serial inventor since his high school days. First he invented a special beam that could be used to quickly build shelters in the event of a disaster (“It’s a great idea but I just haven’t had time to develop it,” Toll says about that one), and he also developed an innovative wind turbine to power homes (“I built that with a friend in order to win an environmental innovation contest, which we did, and we released the plans so anyone could build one on their own”).

Toll isn’t worried by the prospect of having to deal with Israel’s infamous bureaucracy when he sets up shop here. “Starting a business in the States isn’t so easy either,” he said. “You have different laws and regulations in different states, but in Israel, the law is the same in the Galilee and Eilat, so in a way it’s easier.”

What’s more, he added, “You don’t have the spirit of innovation anywhere in the world like you have it in Israel. It’s that spirit we want to tap into and be a part of, and it’s important enough that we are willing to put with some hassles.”