French mogul touts electric car

The World
The World
The Paris Auto show has the latest in cars and pretty girls in cocktail dresses. But another star at this year's auto show is the electric car�and that's good news for this French billionaire. His pet project has been developing an electric car for the market, and he boasts that his will be the first mass-marketed and says that it will be on the market by next March. He says his car can go up to 90 mph and up to 195 miles on a single charge, and he's proud of his battery. Others electric cars have been on the expensive side, and this businessman won't give a sticker price for his car, but in the past he's suggested it could lease for about $700 a month, but he says it will cost less than $2.50 to go 100 miles. He faces several challenges: this past summer, the car's designer and the business partner was killed in a motorcycle accident. But the owner's brother has taken his place. The other challenge is that it's still difficult to find businesses that offer electric car drivers a place to power up, but this analyst says it's only a matter of time before cities develop the infrastructure to support electric cars. Green is definitely the dominant color at the Paris Auto Show. Few electric cars are as crisp as the billionaire's, but this analyst says the market isn't quite ready for the electric car. The billionaire is betting otherwise.
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