(Photo by The Joy of the Mundane on Flickr)
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has penned agreements with U.S. states, public utilities and other agencies throughout the world in 2008 to establish zero-emission transportation options. Portugal is joining in the act by becoming the first national government in Europe to work with Renault and Nissan on an electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. The proposed infrastructure is slated to begin operation by the end of 2010, just ahead of the 2012 global release of several EVs by Nissan and Renault.
The president, assembly and administrative divisions will work over the next three years to clear a path for an EV infrastructure. The national government will fund the installation and testing of 320 charging locations throughout Portugal by 2010 with 1,300 stations to be ready by December 2011. Local, regional and national agencies will need to have fleets featuring at least 20% zero-emission vehicles beginning in 2011.
Portugal will also develop a package of financial incentives and educational programs to get local drivers on board with electric-drive systems. An income tax credit for every business and driver purchasing an electric-drive vehicle will start fall 2010 with plans to continue the credit until 2015. Local agencies will test out reduced parking rates to encourage drivers to park electric vehicles near charging outlets throughout Portugal. The national government plans to work with Renault-Nissan to develop a public education program including vehicle demonstrations and advertisements before the EV system begins.
This public-private collaboration is ideal for a number of reasons not the least of which is the mobilization of an entire nation around the idea of zero-emission transportation. Portugal is a small enough nation to make an EV infrastructure realistic and contains enough geographical diversity to test out the heartiness of electrical vehicles. Renault-Nissan’s partnerships elsewhere in the world may be further along but the Portuguese EV plan is far more ambitious. The combined marketing power of Nissan and Renault as well as its progress in creating zero-emission vehicles mean that this alliance can live up to its side of the agreement. With a deepening global recession in place, Portugal’s national government needs to prove it can live up to its promises if this EV infrastructure plan is going to work.
The good thing about Portugal is that since it has such a big coastal line, as well as a lot of sun, they can also create electricity from alternative sources, like wind and solar power. Now that would be really clean run cars!
All of the other countries have these energies available but the real problem comes with the budget to build some gadget that could harvest them.
Yeah. We already have the world’s largest solar photovoltaic farm. Se here our renewable-plan: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/portugal-renewable-plan.php