While an electric vehicle plan called Better Place has gotten a lot of attention for its lofty goals in Israel, Denmark and elsewhere, other plans deserve a little love, too.
In Spain, according to Spanish-language auto blogs, the Ministry of Industry and the Institute for Diversifying and Saving Energy have come up with a plan that they're calling Proyecto Movele. Under Movele, the government would install an electric car infrastructure in several cities and subsidize private purchase of a small fleet of electric cars (as well as buying some for itself).
Diario de Sevilla writes that the plan is part of a larger economic stimulus package.
Treehugger's April Streeter writes that the pilot cities have been chosen. They're not surprises:
The pretty southern Spanish town of Seville has been chosen along with the capital Madrid and the northern hub Barcelona to implement the Movele pilot electric car infrastructure project proposed by the Spanish Ministry of Industry. The cities' energy authority will this year begin putting in place the recharging stations for an eventual fleet of 500 cars expected to be purchased partially by private owners and partially by the state (subsidized in both cases up to by 30% state funds). What's incredible (in the sense of being a bit hard to believe) is that the infrastructure of 75 charging stations in Sevilla alone is expected to be completed this year. Que sera, sera indeed!
Of course, Seville's 500 cars are just the start of a much larger plan for Movele:
Spain's ambitious program of introducing EVs, hybrid and plug-in cars (a million units for 2012) is promoting the new network under the Movele program. Seville is getting recharging stations in the most used parking lots in the city, as well as at the airport, city hall offices and other official buildings.