Just another Reality-based bubble in the foam of the multiverse.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Inflection Point

JERUSALEM — Israel, tiny and bereft of oil, has decided to embrace the electric car.

On Monday, 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.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, with the active support of President Shimon Peres, intends to make Israel a laboratory to test the practicality of an environmentally clean electric car. The state will offer tax incentives to purchasers, and the new company, with a $200 million investment to start, will begin construction of facilities to recharge the cars and replace empty batteries quickly.

The idea, said Shai Agassi, 39, the software entrepreneur behind the new company, is to sell electric car transportation on the model of the cellphone. 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...


In the belly of the beast, the seeds of its destruction take root.

2 comments:

The Lizard said...

Leave "Zionist" aside for a moment, and look at Israel's energy situation as it is:

Explain what's wrong with the electric car plan.

Leave the offhand sniping to the Right.

kelley b. said...

Read the post instead of offhandedly sniping at me.

I never used the term Zionist. In fact, I think the electric car plan in a good idea, particularly when coupled to solar energy collection.

I also support the right of Israel to exist, even if i don't like the neocons running it now.