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Interview: Spain sells more electric vehicles in March than in all of 2012

Xinhua, April 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Spain registered electric vehicle purchases in the month of March that outdid all of 2012's sales combined.

David Barrientos, director of communications at the Spanish Association of Car Manufacturers (ANFAC), said "now we can say that the use of electric vehicle is gradually spreading in Spain."

In March alone, the sector registered 559 purchases of electric vehicles, which meant a 154-percent increase when compared with March 2015. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of the year, 1,055 purchases were registered, a 175-percent rise when compared with the same period of a year earlier.

"When we compared with other countries in Europe, we still have low figures within the Spanish market," Barrientos explained, adding that "electric vehicle sales represent 0.2 percent of the total sales in Spain, in countries such as Germany or France they represent one percent and in Norway they represent more than seven percent," he pointed out.

Barrientos believed the situation would improve based on there being more affordable prices, more models on the market, and Spanish government's support for the use of more efficient and environmentally-friendly cars.

"The role of the public administration in terms of coherence and coordination is crucial in order to set specific measures to boost electric vehicles sales and its use," Barrientos said, also pointing out that private infrastructure was also needed.

When it comes to charging the car's battery, what the driver wants is "a bigger public and private charging infrastructure so that the driver does not have to be on the lookout for a place to charge the battery when it is dead," he explained.

The Spanish government has implemented the MOVEA Plan which aims at not only boosting electric vehicles sales, but also boosting infrastructure that would make it easier for users to charge their cars.

According to Barrientos, the use of electric cars is beneficial for the environment but also for users. "They offer specific characteristics that make the electric vehicle a very good option for big cities as urban transport." He expected sales of electric cars would go on gradually increasing in Spain, forecasting that 2016 and 2017 would be very good years. Endit