The United Kingdom's PM Gordon Brown is meeting car manufacturers to try to persuade them to mass-produce electric cars. The carrot he's offering is selling them with payment plans that emulate cell phone contracts, à la "Better Place." This scheme, already been taken up by Israel and Denmark (and even Portugal), sells heavily subsidised vehicles – or even gives them away – in return for contracts to buy the electricity to charge them, like cell phones. The contract would allow consumers to receive electricity either by plugging into a network of hundreds of thousands of recharge points across the country or by exchanging flat batteries for fully charged ones. The plan is so ambitious, that Mr. Brown would like to see all cars running with electrons in Britain by 2020 and, if possible, made in Britain (Good luck with that part!). Thanks to Ron for the tip.

[Source: The Independent]