Madrid to turn phone boxes into electric car chargers

Madrid's old telephone boxes will be turned into electric car chargers under a plan to form a test network of recharging points across Spain.

Published: 7:00AM BST 09 Sep 2009
Phone boxes were chosen to take part in Spain's electric car revolution because they are often ideally placed close to the curbs of pavements and already have their own electricity supply, the Guardian reports.
Some 30 boxes, which have become redundant because of the proliferation of mobile phones, have been earmarked for the project.

The Spanish government will spend 10m euros (£8.7m) on kick-starting the use of electric cars over the next two years, with 1.5m euros going on recharging points. Madrid city council said that telephone boxes were a possibility, but that it was still in the process of identifying the recharging spots it planned to build.
Barcelona city council said it already had an agreement with the Endesa electricity company to install recharging points attached to "intelligent lampposts" in the street. It will have 191 recharging points installed within two years.
Companies tendering for services to town halls and government offices will earn extra points if they can show that they are using electric-powered vehicles.
"The aim is to introduce some 2,000 vehicles into cities over the next two years," Miguel Sebastián, from the industry ministry, said.
The mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, said owners of electric cars would be able to park for free in the city and would have their car tax cut by 75 per cent. He predicted that electric cars would eventually become obligatory in city centres.