Spain to Put 1 million Electric Cars on the Road

Spain intends aims to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2014 as part of the Zapatero government’s plan to save energy and boost energy efficiency, minister of industry, business and tourism Miguel Sebastian said Tuesday.
The Plan, which Spain’s Council of Ministers are expected to approve August 1, will be enacted this year and carry on through 2011. Spain will save between 5.8 and 6.4 million tons of oil over the three-year period as a result, according to industry ministry estimates.
“The electric vehicle is the future and the engine of an industrial revolution,” Sebastian told members of the national industry commission. Higher oil prices and growing use and intensity of fossil fuel cost Spain some 17 billion euros last year, according to the minister.
Consisting of 31 measures and at an estimated cost of around 245 million euros, legislators are also looking to provide incentives that will increase use of public transportation, promote substitution of incandescent light bulbs with lower consumption bulbs, and provide mobile phone coverage in subways. Also among the measures being considered are reducing fuel exports 11% and reducing speed limits in cities, according to a Reuters news report.