Spain's EV Plan Short Circuits. Royally

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

See the picture above? It’s a lady in a white car. Nothing unusual there, right? Well, not quite. For starters, the lady is a queen. A real one.

Before I clarify the picture, let me set the scene. Spain is in the middle of economic turmoil. Its credit rating was cut to AA, it pushed through a €15b austerity plan with just one vote and is having trouble overhauling its labor market (which is considered to be one of the most inflexible in Europe). So, suffice to say, money’s too tight to mention, as someone once said. Unless …

Unless you have a plan for a green mode of transportation. Suddenly, money is in plentiful supply. In the middle of trying to cut costs, the Spanish government pledged to invest €590m (that’s about $775m) into the production of electric cars. It aims to have 250,000 electric and hybrid cars on Spanish roads by 2014. Why, is anybody’s guess.

Wait, there’s more money: In addition to that, they put aside €80m to fund subsidies for electric car sales to customers. It’s for 20 percent of the vehicle, capped at €6,000. So it kind of came as an embarrassment when it was reported that when the Spanish government pledged to have 2,000 electric cars on the road by the end of 2010, figures were released that so far in 2010 only 15 were sold. The previous year? Just one. By my calculations, that works out to be roughly €39,333,333 per car. Good value, eh?

The Spanish government tried to put a brave face on. “The figures are similar to what happened in the beginning with personal computers or mobile phones,” they said via the government backed REVE electric car and wind power project, “The first models are expensive and with few options and initial sales were low.” (Not true. The first personal computers cost a few hundred dollars for a bag full of chips and resistors, and everybody said those who bought them were nuts. Which they were.) So, what’s this got to do with the picture above?

The Telegraph reports that in order to boost sales they roped in a celebrity to help. Quite a big celebrity. The lady in the picture is Queen Sofia of Spain. She was photographed driving a Peugeot iON EV whilst on holiday in Palma, Majorca. How did she describe it? “Phenomenal”. Which is exactly the word I’d use for this boondoggle.

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Russification Russification on Aug 16, 2010

    there can only be one queen of Spain and 15 EVs.........now everyone go to the beach for another extended holiday

  • Philadlj Philadlj on Aug 16, 2010

    I never thought I'd see a Spanish queen driving a Japanese EV re-badged as a Peugeot. I wonder if Obama could dust her in his Volt.

  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
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