June 3rd, 2008 10:57 AM Eastern
Driving Around High Gas Prices
by Reena Ninan
High gas prices could be a good thing for America.
That’s what one Middle East expert told me as he tried to explain that the high price of oil might force America to rethink its energy policy.
But is it possible to never pay for gas ever again?
Shai Agassi, ceo of Project Better Place, says, Yes.
He convinced the Israeli government that electric cars are the future. Israelis will get a significant tax break for buying electric. Renault-Nissan has agreed to build them. And the Israeli government has also approved building charging stations throughtout the country.
Agassi hopes that the U.S will follow.
Reena Ninan is a correspondent for FNC, spending the majority of her
time in the Middle East. She provided on-site updates of Iraq's first
parliamentary elections and coverage of Saddam Hussein's trial from
Baghdad. 
Electric cars have the same problem they had 50 and 100 years ago, you have a limited range, and a large recharge time after you exhaust that range. Until they fix (or work around) that, electric cars will not replace the gasoline car in America.
Why is it that gasoline is the only traded commodity not governed by the law of supply and demand? Oil prices fall on concerns of demand, yet gas prices rise. Gas is refined crude oil, isn’t it? Sounds like collusion to me.
Very informative I am so tired of high gas prices
Yes range may be modestly lower in the short term on electric cars, however:
1) battery technology has improved dramatically and the range is much better than in previous years (see Lithium Ion technology)
2) Battery swapping and exchange infrastructure is being built to address the need further;
3) 80% of Americans drive <40 miles per trip (Source: GM), making the range of electric cars (100-200 miles) more than adequate.
4) The other 20% can/should/must buy Plug in hybrids if they really need the range.
The option, destroying our planet while funding corrupt petrol states, is not a great option.
I am sick of hearing about the price of gasoline in the US compared to the price in Europe. Why not compare the $4.00/gal in the US to the 17 cents/gal in Venezuela or the 55 cents/gal in Saudi Arabia? Stop spinning the facts to makes us feel better about being screwed by Exxon, Shell, Chevron, etc.
The biggest problem is the limited mind-set so many Americans have about electric cars. In Denmark and Israel they are putting electric cars on the fast-track with the forward thinking concept of swapping out the spent batteries and replacing them — in a matter of minutes — with a fresh one. No sitting around while a battery recharges. Look up ‘Project Better Place’ for more info.
As innovative as we Americans pride ourselves on being, we are lagging behind in this vital area. Could it be sheer greed that’s holding us back? The electric car doesn’t have an engine or thousands of other moving parts, therefore it is a threat to the combustion engine infrastructure who has lobbyists pushing to kill any move towards putting them out of business. But how short-sighted is that? To care so little about the future — that will be bleak for all of us if we don’t stop burning 20 million barrels of oil a day.
We are better than that.
Please send me any information you have on this vehicle. Would like to see if I can put together a solar package to recharge this vehicle to take the charge off the grid. When will this car go into production?
Send me any information you have. Thank you.
We still rely on gas cars for now, start building the electric cars as a start for the future, quickly. Quit blaming the oil companies. They only have a 9% profit margin just like most American companies.
mark dibble
NIce to see some encouraging coverage of the PBP initiative. For some more information on the article see this link at ecopreneurist - http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/06/12/california-based-ecopreneur-aims-to-bring-electric-cars-to-the-masses/