Good-bye Gasoline?

Could Israel be the first country in the world to run its automobiles free of gasoline by 2020? In an ambitious project that could scale to the rest of the world, Israel plans to be the first country in the world to mass produce electric cars by 2012. As a fuel-constrained country, Israel’s goal is to have all gasoline fueled cars off the road by 2020.

The Israeli electric car venture is a joint project between car manufacturers Renault, Nissan and Project Better Place, a green technology company founded by internet powerhouse, Shai Agassi. With an interest in alternative energy and climate change, 40-year-old Agassi founded his company in October 2007, to focus on creating a green transportation infrastructure based on the electric car.

The smart looking, 200 mile-per-charge electric car grew out of Agassi’s partnership with Renault and Nissan. It has a quick change battery pack that can be exchanged “hands free” in minutes with assembly line precision, when the car pulls into a battery change station.

Yesterday, Project Better Place announced that Denmark has become the second country to sign up to Shai Agassi’s ambitious plan to wean the world off transportation based on fossil fuels. In Denmark, Agassi’s company will partner with Danish utility Dong Energy.