Phone boxes give green cars a boost

VIENNA - If you've run out of juice for your environmentally friendly electric car, a recharge may be only a phone call away under a new scheme unveiled by Telekom Austria this week.

The telecommunications giant has decided to turn its public telephone boxes - which are in danger of becoming obselete thanks to mobile phones - into battery recharging stations for electric cars.

Admittedly, the scheme is still in its infancy. There are just 223 electric cars registered in Austria at the moment, plus 3,559 hybrid cars, from a total 4.3 million cars on Austrian roads.