Kennedy promos Israel’s electric car project
Last night, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. used some air time on Larry King Live to give a shout-out to Project Better Place, an Israeli startup that hopes to make Israel the first country to wean itself off gasoline-powered cars.
Kennedy, who was debating Chevron Oil CEO David O'Reilly, might have overstated Better Place's plan when he said that, "Within three years, they will be off of gasoline automobiles." But the organization is working with Renault-Nissan to make Israel, by 2011, the first country to mass-market a fully capable electric car.
JTA's Dina Kraft wrote about Project Better Place in May.
According to the president of Renault-Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, the car company has created an electric car that can compete with the gas-powered car in both performance and cost. His electric car can accelerate from 0-60 in less than 10 seconds, has a range of 100 miles in normal driving conditions and a range of 62 miles in extreme driving conditions of heavy city traffic with the air conditioner on.
And because the car will be mass produced, the price will be akin to that of a normal gas-powered car, he says. Over the car's lifetime, the car actually will cost less to buy and operate than a gas-powered car, he has said.
Shai Agassi, the president of Project Better Place, has raised some $200 million in investor capital, including $100 million from Israel Corp., to build an electric grid throughout Israel where drivers can change batteries in less time than it takes to fill up a tank of gas. He envisions "converting our entire our country. We can build a virtual oil field; one that works better and leaves no footprint."
The government of Israel already has agreed to give tax breaks to those who drive the cars.
Objectively, the Fundermentalist says this is an awesome, potentially earth-saving project.
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We all saw the level of incompetence when RFK Jr publicly pronounced Katrina to be due to global warming, which was followed by about a zillion hurricane experts providing about a zillion reasons why RFK should probably be committed, or at least removed from the microphone. So now we have RFK shilling for Agassi’s rather clumsy (and very old ) scheme of swappable batteries. For some unknown reason Agassi seems to think that 1) it’s a lot better if electric cars are all-electric and 2) we need to spend a lot of money building these swapping stations, etc. neither idea makes any logical sense - even if a country’s private transportation vehicles went all electric, there remain 1/3rd of the petroleum use being consumed by commercial trucks, and they ain’t gonna be electrified anytime soon, Shah, baby. The solution when batteries are expensive (as they are now) and lack fast recharge capabilities (ditto) is the plug-in hybrid. There is no conceivable reason to prefer battery-onlies to a plug-in with a 40 mile or greater electric driving range. The economics of battery-only electrics are God awful, even at the abbreviated 100 mile ranges Agassi’s fleet will have, making long trips in the U.S. rather absurd in terms of both convenience and cost (Agassi’s system will have to support every traveller on the interstate with 4 to 5 very expensive battery packs a day to keep him moving along). The cost is simply prohibitive. This doesn’t occur in countries the size of a postage stamp, like Israel, or some of the others that Agassi has conned. But there is also no reason for them to require anything other than a plug-in hybrid, which will be here in quantity two years before Agassi’s system is even inaugurated. By the time Agassi is ready to cut the tape of the first swap station, they will be utterly obsolete, regardless of which direction battery technology follows. Agassi simply doesn’t understand the economics of the electrified vehicle, or the battery developments underway. Unfortunately, the politicians who are shilling for his scheme, like RFK, know even less.
After all, RFK blocked nuclear power for the past thirty years, and is therefore responsible for global warming, and also blocked oil drilling in the U.S., making Exxon Mobil fabulously wealthy by driivng up the price of the oil it controls.
Sounds like a great project, but Kennedy was in over-sell mode as usual. Assuming success it will take a minor miracle to make a car attractive in small Israel attractive in the US where driving over much longer distance is required. But, this is a good start if it will work
That vehicle already exists and is available in the USA for just $19.995! It’s called the Triac and it can be seen at: http://www.HiddenBuzz.com - it’s the featured article… it can go up to 80mph and 100+mile range - and again… it’s only $19.995!
Congratulations to Israel on being a leader in this area. We have a gas/elec hybrid and we are looking forward to trying an all elec. I can imagine plugging in at night at home. I can imagine gas stations becoming battery stations, both buying and leasing, and also stopping for a quick plug in. Immediate answer to all transport needs? Maybe not, but a wonderful start. This is such an exciting time to be living in!
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Lisa Horowitz
07/01/08 04:43 PM
Not that I have nay expertise in this and I would like to see this vernture succeed but this makes me wonder whether we will have more instances of cancer as a result of more pawer lines. We’ve seen increases in cancer in neighborhoods with more exposed power lines and we worry about cancer being connected to cell phone usage so I’m curious about whether this has been addressed in any way with regard to electric cars. It would be a shame to wean ourselves off oil only to find that people are dying of cancer.