CAIRO: Electric cars viability on the market is still a few years away, Renault Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday in Morocco while attending the World Economic Forum for the Middle East and North Africa. He said that government assistance is needed to make electric cars a reality. Ghosn argued that with two years of government support in markets will be needed before the alternative energy vehicles would be able to survive on their own. His company, Ghosn said, will invest $5.58 billion in electric vehicle research through its partnership with Nissan Motor Co. He added that the companies will begin to sell electric cars in the United States and Japan this December and in Europe next year. “These are mature markets where governments give incentives to consumers,” Ghosn, who is also Nissan CEO, told a session in Marrakesh. “Two years of government support are needed to jump-start these markets and then the products will grow on their own and take off,” he said. Despite the large investments already being put into electric vehicles, most analysts say it will be a number of years before they make it into the mainstream. Currently, electric vehicles are few and far between. Observers say that through government aid, they could become a viable option. “Take Egypt for example, it could definitely use electric vehicles in Cairo,” Omar Tarek, an alternative energy consultant with Ford Middle East, told Bikya Masr. “Cairo is a small city in terms of area, so it would make sense that if the cost of the vehicle can be reduced, Egyptians could be a major player in this regard.” The current problem with electric cars for an open market is the high cost and lack of overall infrastructure to enable their batteries to be recharged regularly. BM
