First Mass Produced Electric Car In 2011

Renault is joining forces with Better Place, provider of electric vehicle services, to develop and mass produce three electric vehicle models. The cars will initially be marketed in Denmark and Israel. Renault plans on producing 160,000 vehicles per year.

What's different about these cars from other electric cars is that they will be built from scratch, not modeled on standard vehicles. In order for buyers to get access to batteries for the cars, they must sign up for a contract, kind of like a cell-phone plan. Drivers can recharge the batteries at home or switch batteries at designated stations. Recharging a battery will take a few hours, changing it on the fly a few minutes.

The cars will cost around 200,000 Danish kroner, which is around £23,000 and $40,000. Better Place is currently negotiating with other European counties on selling the car outside Denmark and Israel.