Spain plans switch to electric cars
In a bid to slow down climate change and limit harmful emissions the Spanish government wants to ban the sale of vehicles with diesel, petrol and gas engines as of 2040 and take them off the roads entirely by 2050. Is the goal overambitious?
Plan won't work without investing billions
You can't force this kind of radical change on a country, ABC warns:
“Spain is not prepared for a zero-emissions plan like that proposed by Sánchez, who is putting the cart before the horse. ... Spain is way behind if you compare it with the UK and France. Sánchez is forgetting that London has approved a 1.5-billion-pound structural support scheme for the purchase of alternative vehicles and the creation of a charging point infrastructure. And that Germany also approved a billion-euro scheme in 2017. Spain has invested a mere 74.5 million euros in these plans over five years, and in the last year not a single euro was approved for this purpose.”
Goal is non-negotiable
The time frame may be up for discussion but not the ultimate goal, El Periódico de Catalunya comments:
“The government's objective is to achieve as broad a consensus as possible with the other parties and administrations. This is an issue of general interest that deserves a state pact that protects the measures from the uncertainties that changes of government tend to entail. The time limit can be flexible and subject to negotiation, but not the objective itself. The automotive industry too - whose importance for the Spanish economy is indisputable - deserves to have a clear and realistic horizon to work with. But the existence of this horizon should be non-negotiable.”