Electric Cars

Israel said last week it will support a large-scale project to put electric cars on the road as early as next year. An Israeli-American entrepreneur, Shai Agassi, is working with Renault/Nissan to test such a car (and supporting infrastructure) in the tiny country, where gasoline costs more than $6 a gallon. He sees small European countries like Denmark, where gas taxes are high, as ideal places to market the cars. Small is good, because these cars can run some distance on electricity alone, before they need recharging or a gasoline engine to kick in.

The Israeli cars will be able to go 124 miles on a charge. Usually the batteries will be recharged at home at night, when electricity is cheapest. But service stations will be able to recharge or change out the batteries. The cars – from Renault and Nissan – will be subsidized, with a monthly fee for service. Operating costs are expected to be half that of a gasoline-powered car.