Spain Makes Moves Towards Greener Driving

The Scandinavian electric vehicle (EV) maker, THINK, along with its Spanish distribution partner, Going Green, has teamed up with a consortium of Spanish companies and authorities to introduce a car-sharing plan in the Basque country of Spain.

The project, known as Sarecar, will see up to 15 THINK City EVs provided to the city of Ataun as part of the carbon free car sharing scheme. The THINK City is the first vehicle of its type to be granted pan-European regulatory safety approval and CE certification. It is an all-electric urban car that can cover 160km on a single charge.

The consortium partners, which include the city council and the regional government office, have helped arrange for several new EV charging stations to be installed around the city, which will be powered with 100 per cent renewable energy.

The CEO of THINK said that ‘Spain is a growing market for electric vehicles’. The country is a leader in producing and using renewable energy, and is currently trying to promote a scheme which gives grants to help people buy electric cars. A subsidy scheme of 80 million euros is in place allowing the government to fund 20 per cent of each purchase, or up to 6,000 euros per car.

Even the Queen of Spain showed her support for electric vehicles this week when she test drove the electric Peugeot iON, which is based on the Mitsubishi iMIEV and goes on sale in December. It has been lent to Queen Sophia for her month-long summer holiday at the Marivent Palace. She described it as ‘phenomenal’.

Katie Dickinson