The Netherlands' Prime Minister Balkenende and President Osamu Masuko of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) held a meeting on October 27th, and MMC agreed to support the Netherlands in their electric vehicle (EV) promotion program.
The Netherlands government has already launched this June a subsidy program to provide incentives for EV evaluation trials and demonstration projects and is working on popularization of the EV as one method of sustainable transportation. The Netherlands government intends to put in place a taskforce called the "E-Team," composed of both members of the government and the private sector to explore the issue, and requested MMC's support in their EV promotion program.
MMC has already concluded memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the Monaco, Iceland, and Hong Kong governments regarding testing and promotion of EVs. MMC supplied i-MiEVs to the governments and is supporting efforts led by each government to promote EVs in each country.
MMC delivered its new-generation EV, the i-MiEV, to the Netherlands Embassy in Japan in late September. This is the first time MMC has delivered an i-MiEV to an embassy in Japan.
