Only 16 electric cars sold in Spain despite government push

The good news: Spain's ambitious electric-car effort has spurred 16 times as many sales of electric cars this year as last. The bad news -- that's just 16, total, so far this year, vs. 1 last year, the Associated Press reports from Madrid.The country said it would invest close to $800 million in electric cars and infrastructure, hoping to hit sales of 2,000 electrics this year.

Those 16 are little two-seat, Think cars from Norway, not the nifty sedan shown above that's the teaser on the government-project's website.

Next year, the AP reports, the goal was to have 20,000 electric and hybrid vehicles in operation.

We'll soon see how the U.S. market embraces these new electrics on the way:

Chevy Volt, $41,000, and Nissan Leaf, $32,780, are due on the market late this year. Mitsubishi's i-MiEV is to start at less than $30,000 when it arrives next year. You can read about the Mitsu i-MiEV in Test Drive here.

The government currently offers a tax credit up to $7,500 to people who buy electrics, cutting the net price somewhat. But you'll also need a home charging station, roughly $2,000 before whatever state and local incentives are applied.

Chevy says Volt goes up to 40 miles on battery-only, then a gas engine kicks in to run a generator so you can keep driving up to another 300 miles before you need gasoline or a recharge. Test Drive's time in a cobbled-together pre-production version is here.

Nissan says Leaf goes up to 100 miles. Period. No gas backup. Test Drive evaluated a Leaf "mule" -- a very early prototype with incorrect body -- and you can read about it here. We should get our rumps into the real thing next month, so watch Drive On and check the Test Drive column on Fridays for a fresh report.

Mitsu says i-MiEV (hope it winds up with a better name) goes 80 to 100 miles, though our test showed far less on a full charge.

-- James R. Healey/Drive On