Excerpt from Reuters
Volkswagen delivered eight electric cars to Astypalea on Wednesday in a first step towards turning the Greek island’s transport green, a model the government hopes to expand to the rest of the country.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who has made green energy a central plank of Greece’s post-pandemic recovery drive, attended the delivery ceremony along with Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess.
“Astypalea will be a test bed for the green transition: energy autonomous, and entirely powered by nature,” Mitsotakis said.
The cars will be used by the police, coastguard and at the local airport, the beginnings of a larger fleet aimed at replacing about 1,500 combustion-engine cars with electric models and reducing vehicles on the island, a popular tourist destination, by a third.

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