ATHENS – With the world still mostly using the internal combustion engine that relies on gasoline, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is pushing for Greece to turn toward using electric cars.

On World Environment Day he said that, "Greece is preparing to plunge into the future,” with the aim of having 33 percent of cars in the country being electric by 2030 said Kathimerini.

The first phase of the plan foresees financial incentives for individuals and corporations to switch to green cars, noting that the government set aside 100 million euros ($113.22 million) to help purchases of electric cars over the next 18 months.

The subsidy will cover an estimated 25 percent of the purchase of 14,000 new electric cars, he said, to give buyers an incentive to buy them and help lower the cost.

He said tax breaks coming from the government would further make buying electric cars attractive to buyers as well as companies and that the vehicles will be exempt from the road tax for two years while the cost of recharging would be deductible in annual tax filings.

Among the incentives is 1,200 euros ($1360) in tax breaks for individuals and 2,480 euros ($2811) for company cars that, combined with the incentives of a bill passed last year for low-emission cars, the total savings for corporate electric vehicles will reach 3,500 euros ($3967) the paper also added.