Israel Says Shalom to Electric Cars
by Andrew Posner, Providence, Rhode Island 
on 01.21.08
When you are a tiny country with almost no oil, located in a volatile region, and your gasoline consistently sells for over $6 a gallon, electric cars are an especially attractive option. We recently told you about Shai Agassi, an American-Israeli entrepreneur, and his plans to make electric cars sell like cell phones. Under the innovative model, "purchasers get subsidized hardware — the car — and pay a monthly fee for expected mileage, like minutes on a cellphone plan, eliminating concerns about the fluctuating price of gasoline." When we first covered the story last November, "the Israeli government [had] recently given a vote of confidence in support" of the idea. Now, the NY Times is reporting that today "the Israeli government will announce its support for a broad effort to promote the use of electric cars, embracing a joint venture between an American-Israeli entrepreneur and Renault and its partner, Nissan Motor Company."
Any concern that this project will go the way of the EV1 should be allayed by the fact that Project Better Place, Mr. Agassi's company, "has put up $100 million for the project."
Project Better Place will also be providing lithium-ion batteries, which have a range of 124 miles, as well as "the infrastructure necessary to keep the cars going — whether parking meter-like plugs on city streets or service stations along highways, where, in a structure like a car wash, exhausted batteries will be removed and fresh ones inserted." The cars themselves will be made by Renault and Nissan. At the same time, Israel will provide substantial tax breaks for the cars and keep them in place until at least 2015. The aim is to "make the cars cheaper to consumers than gasoline-engine cars."
Of course, the electricity needed to charge the cars will have to come from somewhere, which is why Israeli President Shimon Peres "supports a larger investment in solar power, saying that 'the Saudis don’t control the sun.'” Many believe that Israel is a perfect country for testing electric cars, due to the short distances between major cities, its entrepreneurial prowess, and its unique geopolitical needs.
Mr. Agassi is predicting that, by the end of 2010, 100,000 electric cars will be on Israeli roads. Whether or not his prediction is overly (or wildly) optimistic remains to be seen, but the timing coincides with the expected release of several exciting vehicles in the U.S., including the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid, and the Chevy Volt. All this is making it clear that plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles are going to become increasingly common in the coming years.
Via: ::NY Times
See Also: ::2010: The Year We Make Electric Contact, ::Israel Invests in Mass Transit, ::Shimon and DiCaprio Swap Green Plans in Israel, ::Electric Car Plants in Israel?, ::Green Basics: Electric Vehicles and Cars, ::Converting Your Car To An Electric Vehicle, ::An Electric Deal For Canada and Israel, ::In Israel, A Little Oil Goes a Long Way, and ::Toyota Unveils Plug-in Prius
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It is really an innovating idea. But it seems to me so strange, beacuse, being one of the great fuel producers it would not favor for them that this project had a happy finish.
CanCar - Israel doesn't really have any oil...
I think this is amazing. Once again, Israel is a leader in technology. Hopefully this will make the rest of the world wake up to the viability of electric cars.
This is brilliant! I'm going to share this tomorrow with my readers at my eco-blog http://www.planetpinkngreen.com. Mr. Agassi is a maverick and hats off to you. I really see a trend in inspiring people such as he who will be the change in the world towards healing the planet. Thank-you Treehugger for reporting on this!!
The particular situation of Israel does make it likely that such a program could actually get up and running relatively quickly. And I hope they are wildly successful. It would be a stimulant for other countries to get their acts together regarding electric vehicles and infrastructure.
Um...70% of Israel's electricity comes from burning coal.
Coal is still more efficient when running a car (through its electricity, of course) than gasoline. And Israel is working on its renewable portfolio.
Well, by making it cheaper to drive, this will just encourage more driving and could indeed lead to more GHG emissions. This is not being done for environmental reason.
There is no such thing as a green car and there never will be. The manufacture of cars and the infrastructure are too resource and land intensive to make cars sustainable in a planet of 6 billion people.
Much better to improve cycling and transit facilities to give people real choses.
Until they come with a way to solve the degradation problem with Li-Ion batteries they will never be suitable for electric cars. Think about what happens in your laptop or cell phone. Over time your battery loses it's ability to hold a charge and you get less and less time to a charge. The battery pack required to move a car is going to be considerably more expensive than a laptop or phone battery. You may as well buy yourself a high mpg gasoline car because after 5 or 6 years your Li-Ion electric will be a monument in your driveway unless you are willing to spend another 20-25k to replace the battery pack. This limitation will also affect any hybrid that used Li-Ion battery packs.
I agree with Ross here who says that this will make more people realize that electric vehicles are a viable, even practical option, especially now, with gas prices being what they are!
I agree with Ross here who says that this will make more people realize that electric vehicles are a viable, even practical option, especially now, with gas prices being what they are!
Really, $25000 for a battery pack? Because Tesla is planning on releasing an all-electric vehicle for 50% of the cost. I'd like to know where that number came from so I can better assess my thinking.
I am all for more choices in transit. More rail, more bike lanes, and also more buses are key. But cars and airplanes are another choice that will be available, and will be affordable for many of us. Can it be sustainable? Yes, I think so. If we recycle the cars at the end of their life cycle, switch to green fuels or electric vehicles from a clean grid, if the factories in which they are made and the trucks and ships that move them around the world are similarly green I fail to see what part of the process is inherently unsustainable. Just because we don't do things correctly now doesn't mean we can't.
What is put forward in this article is burdening the consumer unneccasirly. First he forks out for a car and then he pays each month for battery charging or hire of the battery. And who ends up being the benificiary: shai agassi or some other company.
Its all about money jobs and profits. If we all have electric cars that we charge ourselves then theres no profit for shai agassi or oil comapanies and theres no jobs at the gas stations.
The same applies I Guess to power generation. If more people generate their own power then it less jobs/profits at utilty companies/power stations.
When Shimon Peres talks about solar power what he probbaly means is large solar power plants generating electricity and profits for private companies in the guise of green electricity.