Israel is today announcing plans to set up a nationwide electric car network, involving half a million recharging and battery-swap points within 18 months, and a Renault-Nissan electric car with a range of over a hundred miles in mass production by 2011. The plan’s $200 million price tag is privately financed, and organised by Project Better Place, a US start-up. According to the New York Times,
Project Better Place’s major investor, Idan Ofer, 52, has put up $100 million for the project and is its board chairman. He will remain chairman of Israel Corporation Ltd., a major owner and operator of shipping companies and refineries. “What’s driving me is a much wider outlook than Israel,” Mr. Ofer said. “If it were just Israel, I’d be cannibalizing my refinery business. I’m not so concerned about the refineries, but building a world-class company. If Israel will ever produce a Nokia, it will be this.”
The plan has the strong backing of the government too: President Shimon Peres is quoted in the FT as saying that Israel’s oil import needs would be halved within a few years, and the remainder slashed via large scale solar power. Needless to say, security considerations make the plan especially attractive to Israel. As Peres succintly puts it, “the Saudis don’t control the sun”.
