[W]hen you see [electric cars] failing in Israel, the obstacles look pretty daunting. Israel has some of the highest gas prices in the world–almost $10 a gallon last August–and its compact size makes it easy to cover with battery-swapping and charging stations. The economies of scale would have to be amazing to make this business model work in a bigger country like the US. Even if we somehow developed the political will to impose a $7 gas tax.

Which is perhaps why, so far, our electric car market isn’t looking so bright. We’re a long, long way from Obama’s goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.