While the United States has been working on a green campaign for some time now, other countries are still working to catch up with their own campaigns for more environmentally friendly vehicles. The French, in particular, have just announced a 10-year plan in which they will pump €2.5 billion into the production and deployment of all-electric-vehicles.

The French government hopes that with their efforts there will be 1 million charging stations around the country by 2015 and 4 million by 2020. Furthermore, they hope that by 2020 electric vehicles will make up for 16% of new car sales while 2025 will see 27% made up of the environmentally friendly vehicles.

Let’s hope that this plan works and that more national governments across the world hop on board.

Read (Reuters)

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Matra EVs

Mail in the UK may soon be deilvered in egg-shaped electric vehicles. The Royal Mail is testing a few of Matra EVs from France and it appears content with the vehicle. These plug-in electric vehicles may replace bicycles the postmen currently get around on, as well as the fossil fuel powered vans the department uses.

Matra EVs can cover nearly 35miles on a single charge and reach a top speed of 25mph. Driven to go green, the Royal Mail has put these vehicles to the test in Oxford and Essex, and found the feedback and results to be positive.

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The economic stimulus plan recently passed by Congress received widespread criticism for containing some conditions requiring that only United States steel be used for government-funded infrastructure projects. While Americans debate protectionism and its impact on world trade agreements, French President Nikolas Sarkozy has announced that $8 billion in government loans to French automakers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen should be contingent on Peugeot bringing the Czech plant back to France. “If we are to give financial assistance to the auto industry, we don’t want to see another factory being moved to the Czech Republic,” he said, referring to Peugeot Citroen’s seven-year old Czech plant.

As the global economy worsens, other nations are reining in tendencies towards globalization. “The French have signaled that they are willing to do things they know are illegal under E.U. law,” says Katinka Barysch, Deputy Director at the London-based Centre for European Reform. “But if one E.U. country goes down this route, others will feel they have to follow.”

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