The Renault outside Better Place’s centre in suburban Tel Aviv looks like any other mid-sized saloon car, except it is tethered to a kerbside socket. Once it is unplugged, I slide behind the wheel, press the start button – and nothing. The only clue that the engine is running comes from the console display. It is utterly silent.
Just as disconcerting is the lack of a gear stick of any sort. But a couple of spins around the test track bring home Shai Agassi’s earlier comment that “you don’t get silent until you’re in silent, and you don’t get immediate torque until you actually feel it”. It is the first time I have driven a car that doesn’t wind up after you put your foot down but starts flying that instant.
That could prove addictive on the open road, although the downside is that the faster you drive, the faster the battery flattens. Mr Agassi is well suited to his role as a car salesman – his arguments are persuasive and a Better Place vehicle would remove almost all the guilt the green motorist feels. Yet perhaps the most effective sales weapon will be word of mouth. Once you’ve driven an electric car, petrol or diesel might just seem so 20th century.