Prime Minster Ehud Olmert announced today that the government would encourage the development of electric vehicles. Olmert was speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting in which the ministers discussed "green" transportation moves which would conserve energy and help the environment. Olmert said that the government would consider granting experimental incentives to companies and factories that produced electric cars and would also consider deploying a national infrastructure that would enable electric cars to drive on Israel's roads.
"The alternative transportation technology will also decrease air pollution and the dependency of the State of Israel on oil," explained Olmert.
An inter-ministerial steering committee will be appointed, headed by the director of budgets, to examine various proposals on the matter. The committee will include members of the prime minister's office, the ministry of transport, the ministry of national infrastructures, the ministry of industry, trade and labor, the ministry of the environment, the ministry of justice, the tax authority, the antitrust authority and the ministry of the interior planning administration.
In addition to the steering committee, a number of secondary teams will be formed, to deal with various facets of the plan.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on November 11, 2007
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