This plan for a widespread grid of electric charging spots and battery exchange stations, managed through integrated software systems, has a unique advantage over most EV dreams: it doesn't require a battery breakthrough to become reality.

"We don't need to wait for the magical 400-mile battery which never shows up," Agassi said on Monday. "That's the thing that everybody's dreaming about. We don't need to wait for a hydrogen highway. We don't need to wait for things that just don't materialize. We can start with what we have today, bring it back to the models that consumers are comfortable with."

Agassi is calling his new company "The Better Place Project." And while Better Place is founded on a cutting-edge concept, the business model Agassi has in mind is certainly familiar to consumers: "It's the cell phone model." The system will sell the electricity delivered through the recharge grid on a subscription basis. In an echo of the free or discounted phones offered by mobile phone service providers, it will also subsidize the cost of the vehicles themselves through leases and credits -- a move that seems certain to get consumers' attention, and could be a huge spur to EV adoption.

"They're comfortable with buying a car and paying for energy on a weekly or monthly basis," Agassi pointed out. "They're comfortable with their cell phone model. They're comfortable with subscribing to a service and getting a handset for free." He added, "Hopefully we'll get to a point where we'll be able to give away an electric car."

At the very least, Agassi said, "These cars, based on the subscription contract, will also be subsidized so consumers will be able to buy an electric car for a less than they would pay for one with an internal combustion engine -- making electric cars the more affordable, more sane, more sustainable solution."

When it comes to information technology, Agassi is no newby. After founding a software company called TopTier in Israel in 1992, he moved the company HQ to California. TopTier was acquired by German-based software giant SAP in 2001. By the time Agassi left SAP at the end of March 2007, he was responsible for SAP's overall technology strategy and execution and was next in line for the CEO spot. Earlier this year, the Israel Corporation announced a $100 million investment in Agassi's brainstorm; other private venture partners have anted up another $100 million since.

Agassi contends that traditional thinking has approached the problem of EV adoption precisely backwards. "You don't start by building the handset and hoping that somebody will build the network," Agassi explained. "You start by building the network, and then the handsets can actually become practical." Likewise, Agassi says, the key to moving large numbers of people from oil-based transportation to electric vehicles is to deploy an infrastructure that makes electric cars a viable alternative for everyday consumers, using a business model that makes switching a no-brainer.