Portugal starts production of the Mobicar

Portugal's 100% electric Mobicar (no relation to this blog's name) will start to be assembled in 2011 and will roll out on to the steets in 2012, with local media reporting a final tag price of 9.000 euros (12.000 dollars), yet to be confirmed.

With an autonomy of 120 km (74 miles) and a top speed of 100 kmph (62 mph), the three-seater compact vehicle is being developed at the CEIIA (Centre for Excellence and Innovation in the Automotive Industry) in Porto, in collaboration with Spain's CTAG, among 70 other entities, companies and universities. Initial production is limited to 350 test units. For 2012, 6250 Mobicars are expected to roll out the Vendas Novas Isuzu plant.

Portugal already has over 100 charging stations and will get a further 1200 plug-in stations until December 2011, in a project led by Mobi.e. The network, with an open business model, allows any consumer the access to any provider of electricity in any charging point explored by any service operator. The country exempts EVs from most taxes.