Electric cars in Israel by 2011

"Zero emission, zero noise," Renault-Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said. "It will be the most environmentally friendly mass-produced car on the market."

What is Nissan's charismatic boss talking about? Seems Israel is committed to an ambitious plan to install the world's first electric car network by 2011, with half a million recharging stations to crisscross the tiny nation. AP/MSNBC has more details:

Ghosn said the cars, with a range of up to 100 miles per charge, would have a top speed of 68 miles per hour — the top speed limit in Israel. And Aggasi vowed that, in the long run, the electric car would be cheaper to operate than one based on fuel.

Israeli leaders said they hoped the country would prove to be a trailblazer in the field of alternative energy. "This initiative will revolutionize cars in Israel and throughout the world," National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said.

AP/MSNBC: Israel vows to introduce electric cars by 2011

Currently, Israel gets its electricity from a number of non-renewable sources, such as nuclear, oil, and coal, but it seems that at least the southern part of the country is setting up its own renewable energy infrastructure, based mainly on solar power.

Treehugger: Solarized in Israel's South

Haaretz: Eilot Region pins energy hopes on solar collectors


Meanwhile, Israel says it would not send emergency shipments of fuel to Gaza, as it had initially promised earlier in the week. The fuel is needed to run Gaza City's power plant, which had shut down after Israel imposed a complete closure on Gaza last week, in response to rocket attacks. The Palestinian Energy Authority said the Gaza plant would have to shut down again by Sunday, unless shipments are renewed. No wonder people are fleeing into Egypt.

Ahem. But I disgress. Back to the topic at hand. Sunpower and electric cars. We live in interesting times: I really like that Israel's leaders pledged to provide tax incentives to customers to make Israel's cars fuel-free. I also like the philosophy of the people involved:

The initiative is the brainchild of Shai Agassi, a 39-year-old Israeli-American entrepreneur and high-tech star, who raised $200 million to get the project off the ground.

"Our planet's battery got charged over hundreds of millions of years, and yet we have consumed half the world's oil in one century. In the process, we got addicted to oil, polluted our cities and altered our planet's climate," Agassi said. "Finally, we are running out of out most precious commodity of all — we are running out of time."

Most of all, I love the "zero noise" pledge!

(Very interesting map from The Globe and Mail Aug 22, 2005, click to enlarge)