IEA pushes electric vehicle use

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PARIS, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- An agreement to launch a pilot project to promote the use of electric vehicles is the step needed to make clean vehicles a reality, the IEA said in Paris.

China, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United States agreed at the Paris Motor Show to establish pilot cities to promote electric vehicles.

Nobuo Tanaka, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the agreement was indicative of the holistic backing of energy reform.

"This initiative and event demonstrate the high-level commitment and determination of both governments and industry to make advanced, clean vehicles a reality," he said in a statement.

Member states agreed to set a combined target of putting 20 million electrovolts on the roads by 2020. Apart from pilot cities, participants agreed to technology sharing initiatives and to share deployment targets in the broad-based initiative.

"To achieve a sustainable energy future, we need to transform global transport," said Tanaka.