The president of the government, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will today present to parliament his strategy for the introduction of the electric car in Spain, a project that will receive subsidies of some 590 million euros over the next two years.

The so-called Plan Estratégico Integral del Vehículo Eléctrico (literally, the Comprehensive Strategic Plan for the Electric Vehicle) has been laid down in a document, that details the various stages for the introduction of the electric car, with provision for 250,000 units  by 2014, including rechargeable hybrids.

The draft plan proposes a new electricity tariff, which would take advantage of the optimum hours for recharging and for a better functioning of the system.

According to the outline plan, there would need to be 62,000 private recharging points (in people's homes), 263,000 in fleet car parks, 12,150 in public car parks and 6,200 on the public highway by 2014.

From 2011, it is anticipated that there would be a quick-charge point for every 400 charging stations for private cars, giving a total of 1,260 charging stations of this type by 2014.

The plan to boost demand and use of the electric car has been laid out in two separate programmes in this plan, one which gives priority to fleet cars, in particular those belonging to the civil service, and the other designed to promote the use of the electric car around town, similar to those already being piloted in Madrid, where free parking has been granted in certain areas.