Avi Moshel, deputy head of the Air Quality Division in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, suggests that the rise in hybrid car sales in Israel is due to several factors:

1. Tax reductions on hybrid cars which brought about significant reductions in their price to the consumer.

2. Growing awareness of the impacts of pollution on the environment, both in terms of the adverse health impacts of air pollution and the contribution to global warming associated with greenhouse gas emissions.

3. The continuous rise in fuel prices and the search for more fuel efficient vehicles.

Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra recently met with the General Manager of the Israeli Car Importers Association and with representatives of hybrid car manufacturers to request increased imports of hybrid cars into Israel. In parallel, Minister Ezra called on the Chairman of Israel’s Taxi Drivers Association to help convince taxi drivers to switch to hybrid cars.

It is estimated that the use of hybrid cars already purchased in Israel reduces some 3,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, some 1,500 kilograms of NO_x, some 1,400 kg of hydrocarbons and some 6,200 kg of carbon monoxides compared to a similar number of gasoline vehicles.