Free Electric Cars In Israel And Denmark
By Nick April 7, 2008
A new company called Project Better Place is collaborating with Renault to make electric cars more practical. The main problem with these environmental-friendly vehicles is that of recharging, because this takes hours, and their range is considerably shorter than gasoline powered cars.
The new project raised $200 million and is aimed at installing recharging infrastructure in Israel and Denmark, so that the cars will be recharged alike cell phones. The outlets are placed at parking lots throughout the country, in a number of 500,000 in Israel only, and a similar number is slated for Denmark. That is one outlet for every six parking lots.
Project Better Place agreed with Renault to design electric cars with replaceable batteries, so that drivers can easily swap the used ones with already-charged new ones. The range for the new cars using these batteries will be over a hundred miles, which is more than a regular person drives in the daily routine.
The cars will be free of cost, but that is only if the buyers sign a six-year contract that covers the costs of charging the batteries, renting them and replacing them. The subscription resembles the ones for cell phones, but drivers will be charged for the number of miles instead of minutes.
The number of miles will be tracked via a wireless system, so every problem should be solved. The new cars will look like the Renault Z17 City Car pictured above. I wonder what the monthly fee for using one of these will be; after all, the manufacturers have to get the $200 million investment back and make this business profitable.
Topics: Transportation |
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