Hedge funds will be particularly keen to get their hands on cutting-edge risk-takers who fret that new regulation will clip their wings.

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He was particularly keen on saying that 2012 should be a "team campaign".

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Renault is particularly keen to promote fast-charging stations, along with exchange centres on motorways where depleted batteries can be quickly swapped for another one during long journeys. (This approach is being championed by Better Place, a start-up which has developed robots to handle the battery-swapping process.) Meanwhile the tinkerers are already at work: some are planning to build small, petrol-powered generators which can be towed behind battery-only cars on long trips.

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