Renault-Nissan and Project Better Place To Mass Market Electric Vehicles

Jerusalem, Israel [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Project Better Place have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at creating a breakthrough in the electric vehicle market in Israel. The solution framework comes in response to the Israeli State's challenge to the auto industry and its supply chain to migrate the country's transportation infrastructure to renewable sources of energy.

The Israeli government will provide tax incentives to customers, Renault will supply the electric vehicles and Project Better Place will construct and operate an Electric Recharge Grid across the entire country. Electric vehicles will be available for customers in 2011.

Renault's vehicles will run on pure electricity for all functions, the batteries will be developed by Nissan, and will offer driving performances similar to a 1.6 liter gasoline engine. Consumers will buy and own their car and subscribe to energy, including the use of the battery, on a basis of kilometers driven. Combined with the lower cost of electricity as opposed to fuel-based energy, and the vehicle's lifetime guarantee, the total cost of ownership for the customer will be significantly lower than that of a fuel-based car over the life cycle of the vehicle.

Project Better Place and The Alliance will ensure that driving range will no longer be an obstacle, because customers will be able to plug their cars into charging units in any of the 500,000 charging spots that will be installed throughout the country. An on-board computer system will indicate to the driver the remaining power supply and the nearest charging spot.