Spain's EV Plan Short Circuits. Royally

by Cammy Corrigan

Published: August 15th, 2010

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.

#CammyCorrigan #ElectricVehicle #Queen #Spain

Cammy Corrigan

More by Cammy Corrigan

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 13 comments

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

Like Reply
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.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

3-On-The-Tree I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 and the only major repair that I have done on it was replace the radiator. Besides usual plugs, wires oil etc. And yes those tires are expensive as well.
28-Cars-Later We had a red 2003 with less than 100 miles in late 2004/5ish and kept it till the end AFAIK. I do recall being told we had about $28,000 in at the time (about $43,6 in 2023 Clown World Bux). I don't ever recall anyone retail even looking at it, and it lived in the showroom/garage."It's an automatic that just had the linkage repaired and upgraded"This really doesn't bode well. Maybe there's a upgrade I'm simply not aware of so one could tune the 3rd Gen LM4 for higher power but messing with it isn't making me smile because now I know its no longer factory or somehow it broke and with such low miles I'm equally concerned.
Analoggrotto With Kia Hyundai you are guaranteed to have the best Maintenance and Service experience in the industry. Complementary diagnostics, open book fees schedules and adherence to published rates with no attempts to tack extra work on are part of the HMC Gold Standard of Service. Recalls are the lowest in the industry but when you bring your Hyundai Genesis Kia vehicle in for Feature Improvement, rest assured that it will be taken care of to the highest pentagon standards, fully free of charge with no pressure for paid work or service unless requested. Hyundai Kia have the highest levels of customer ATP loyalty in the industry and Service is key to the best after sales experience.
MaintenanceCosts In Toyota's hands, these hybrid powertrains with a single motor and a conventional automatic transmission have not been achieving the same kind of fuel economy benefits as the planetary-gear setups in the smaller cars. It's too bad. Many years ago GM did a group of full-size pickups and SUVs with a 6.0L V8 and a two-motor planetary gear system, and those got the fuel economy boost you'd expect while maintaining big-time towing capacity. Toyota should have done the same with its turbo four and six in the new trucks.
JMII My C7 isn't too bad maintain wise but it requires 10 quarts of expensive 0W-40 once a year (per GM) and tires are pricey due size and grip requirements. I average about $600 a year in maintenance but a majority of that is due to track usage. Brake fluid, brake pads and tires add up quickly. Wiper blades, coolant flush, transmission fluid, rear diff fluid and a new battery were the other costs. I bought the car in 2018 with 18k in mileage and now it has 42k. Many of the items mentioned are needed between 20k and 40k per GM's service schedule so my ownership period just happens to align with various intervals.I really need to go thru my service spreadsheet and put track related items on a separate tab to get a better picture of what "normal" cost would be. Its likely 75% of my spend is track related.Repairs to date are only $350. I needed a new XM antenna (aftermarket), a cargo net clip, a backup lamp switch and new LED side markers (aftermarket). The LEDs were the most expensive at $220.