Transport committee  Yes, there is a general tax preference based on the carbon intensity. Based on your miles per litre, there's a different tax duty on vehicles, going from 10%—or for electric, 0%—all the way to 70% or 80% for the dirtiest diesel vehicles.

Transport committee  It's only this year that the network opened, so it's still a fairly small number. There are somewhere close to 1,000 being driven right now. But when you look at it from a percentage penetration standpoint, it's more than ten times the level of the most advanced markets, such as the U.S., in terms of new vehicle sales percentage.

Transport committee  We have markets up and running country-wide in Israel and Denmark, and smaller-scale demonstrations and beginnings of operations in the Netherlands, China, Australia, California, and Hawaii. The first two markets that went live—as I said, it's a network approach—are Israel and Denmark.

Transport committee  Our partnership is with Renault. Renault is a French partner of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. They have a facility in Turkey that can produce up to 100,000 of these switchable batteries. They are called Renault Fluence Z.E., that is, zero emissions.

Transport committee  It's not that wrong. If you include the battery, you get to exactly that number. You take a $30,000 to $35,000 car, and $12,000 is battery. But take that out, and you are talking about a $22,000 car. Then you get almost to parity, depending on which types of accessories you have with gasoline cars.

Transport committee  There is a subsidy from the governments in Europe and Israel. That's why I am talking about the difference in policies. In the U.S., you have a $7,500 battery subsidy. In Ontario, there's a limited $8,000 battery subsidy. In Israel and Denmark, there is not a battery subsidy, but there is a difference in the taxation on gasoline cars versus electric cars.

Transport committee  If the battery price is included, it's $10,000 to $12,000 more than the same car without a battery. But because Better Place owns the batteries part of the network, it can break it down into 100,000 miles, and basically charge you 6¢ to 7¢ per mile for the use of the battery, 3¢ for the electricity, and 3¢ for our operating the network and giving you the customer service.

Transport committee  It's a question of capital. I think it's a very simple question, because today, at least in the light-duty vehicles, there is an economic advantage to electric miles, electric kilometres versus gasoline. The problem is, it's as you describe. It's not about charging infrastructure or the batteries or the cars or the energy; it's about putting a system together that can replace the old one.

Transport committee  Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to be here. The innovation and technology for transportation that I want to speak about is the revolution that's taking place on the electric vehicle side, with light-duty vehicles. We're seeing this around the world. Large numbers of models by all different types of auto manufacturers are coming into the market, but we're seeing one big obstacle to mass adoption.