Estonia has become the first country in the world to install a nationwide system of fast chargers for electric vehicles as part of European efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

The 165 chargers were produced and installed by engineering group ABB, and construction was financed from the government’s sale of 10 million surplus CO2 emission permits to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation.

The 2011 deal with Mitsubishi also provided the government with more than 500 electric cars and the financing of a incentive scheme for people to purchase electric cars.

“Now is the time to really press the pedal and move forward in electrical mobility. We have proved that there is a real possibility to set up a network in a country, and there are no technical barriers,” Jarmo Tuisk, head of the scheme to set up the network, said in an interview.

The network of fast chargers strategically placed along roads and in towns means that users need not worry about running out of power during their journeys. It also features a nationwide unified payment system.

Tuisk said that with the national charging network in place he hoped the number of electrical vehicles owned by individuals or companies would double to 200 this year.

It is great that Estonia has been able to accomplish this feat, but isn’t selling 10 million surplus CO2 emission permits to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation just shifting the problem to another country and not eliminating it, thus allowing what the EU deems pollution to be a problem elsewhere?

If so, this gives traction to the opponents of this mandate that this is nothing more than a new government tax, and not the noble idea that it is supposed to be. And creates another monopoly for governments to “distribute energy”.