Why You Will Be Driving an Electric Car Within 10 Years, Part 2

Can't Afford a New Electric Car? Pay Little or Nothing Down, and Then Pay, Only 6 Cents a Mile

PART 2 - Continued from Part 1

Can't afford a new car? How about if you pay little or nothing down, and than just pay around 6 cents a mile for the use of an electric car? Does this plan sound familiar? That's because it's the cell phone model.

Does this sound like a crazy idea? Yes, however this is going to happen. Better Place has agreements with the governments of Israel, and Denmark. In the U.S they have agreements and pilot programs with Hawaii, and the bay area, in California. They expect to have 8000 electric cars signed up a month in Israel, by the end of 2011.

Remember the Nissan- Renault, $20,000. electric cars, that will travel 125 miles between charges. Nissan-Renault has partnered with Better Place. Here's how it will work: Better Place will provide the batteries. Nissan- Renault will manufacture the cars. They will have charging stations, in parking garages. You can charge up at night, or while you're at work, at your company's parking lot. There will be software in your car that will totally automate the process. The software will even guide you to available parking spaces, wherever you go, when you need charging or parking. When you don't have time to charge, you will pull into a station and swap your battery, for a fully charged one. The process is totally automated and will take about 3 or 4 minutes because the batteries are designed to pull right out, by a robot arm.

Better Place was founded in 2007 by Shai Agassi, a 38 year old, Israeli born American. Agassi was the top products executive for SAP, the large European based, software company. Better Place was founded with the help of Israeli President Shimon Perez. They have raised 200 million dollars, and have Israeli investors with deep pockets. The first charging station in Israel opened up a few days ago, as part of a pilot program.

The Israelis have strategic reasons to replace gas, with electric cars. Replacing oil will weaken Israel's oil producing enemies, like Iran. In fact, Israeli scientists have been working on alternative energy projects for years, some of them in the U.S.