Though he doesn't talk about it directly, Gil Agmon, CEO of Ford and Mazda importer Delek Motors, a unit of Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG), sounds skeptical about Shai Agassi's electric car venture Better Place, which is backed by Israel Corp. (TASE: ILCO), and says he is not afraid of competition from electric vehicles.
"I won't comment on Better Place." Agmon said. "Will we see electric cars of any kind in another ten years? In my view, the total of electric vehicles will reach about 10% of the market in another few years.
"There is no engineering problem in producing electric cars," Agmon continued. "There is a problem with the cost of the battery, its weight, and its range. They're pulling the wool over everyone's eyes here with stories. It's all nonsense. The big story is the cost of the battery: 11 thousand euros. So they say that this problem will be solved by the State of Israel giving a tax break, but 9% of the state's tax revenues come from the vehicle industry. In the US, taxes on vehicles represent a negligible proportion of total tax revenues; in Israel, it's a matter of NIS 20 billion a year. It's a bad joke to think that the state will forego revenues from taxes, customs, and duty on fuels."
Agmon doesn't believe that Better Place will receive an exclusive concession from the state in electric vehicles. "Even in countries with no proper administration they won’t let the electric market fall into the hands of one person. Anyone can import electric cars," Agmon stated categorically.
Excerpts courtesy of Calcalist TV.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 17, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010