Spain hopes to jumpstart electric car industry with EU funds

Spain is Europe's second-biggest car maker but lags behind when it comes to electric vehicles

BARCELONA, Spain -- Daniel Sánchez is one of the luckier electric car owners in Spain. With a free recharging station less than a kilometer from his home just north of Barcelona, he can keep his Tesla ready to roll. “I cannot imagine stopping at a gas station ever again," the 41-year-old transport company owner said. "We feel like those people who got off a horse-drawn carriage and climbed into a car. There is no going back.” Other Spaniards are considerably less enthusiastic. The dearth of places to plug in, compared to western and northern Europe, and the price of electric cars have left Spain lagging as the continent races to get greener. Now the government wants to usher the entire country into this new paradigm.