Of course, if you listen to the Federal Government or the oil companies, you will hear that converting the nation’s cars from oil to electricity or other non-oil energy source would bankrupt us and ruin the country–vs. the bankruptcy and ruin that we face WITH reliance on oil…but we’re not supposed to think too deeply about that.

Here’s the viewpoint of someone who has a vested interest in converting the U.S. to alternative energy to power our cars. He claims that we can put the infrastructure in place nationally for what 2 months of foreign oil costs us (or equal to what Exxon-Mobil makes in one quarter).

Agassi presents Congress with US electric car figures

"We can put in place the infrastructure needed to power the nation’s cars and end this oil dependence."

Dubi Ben-Gedalyahu 1 Jul 08   13:39

"For the price of two months worth of oil, some $100 billion, we can put in place the infrastructure needed to power the nation’s cars and end this oil dependence," [1] Project Better Place CEO Shai Agassi told the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming at a hearing last week. He added, "Of that $100 billion, moreover, some $80 billion will go into jobs that, by their nature, can only be performed in the US - the construction of the infrastructure itself."

Agassi added, "For the price of one year’s worth of oil, some $500 billion, we can go even farther - creating fully renewable electrical generation sufficient to power all of the nation’s vehicles. In so doing, we will again create jobs that can only be performed in this country, and we will give a much broader stimulus to the renewables energy market."

Agassi noted that the operating cost of an electric car, including the depreciation of the battery, is cuurently about six cents per mile, while the average American - getting 25 miles per gallon and paying $4 per gallon - is paying 16 cents per mile. He explained that a car getting less than 25 miles per gallon will cost even more - drivers in Europe pay two to three times that amount. He added, "Based on this infrastructure alone, of the average 2.6 cars per US household today, there is no reason that one of them can’t be all electric for use on every trip of 120 miles or less."

Agassi told the committee, "We are in active discussions with more than 30 other countries, and with dozens of regions, provinces, states and large cities. Many of those discussions, both in the US and globally, are well advanced."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - [2] www.globes-online.com - on July 1, 2008