Thanks to the experience acquired through previous initiatives in the field, in Italy Enel Distribuzione is devising the recharge infrastructure for electric vehicles as well as coordinating demo projects.
Brussels, April 1st, 2011 - The European Commission has kicked off a 4 year cross-European initiative to promote electromobility. The 42 partners in the initiative comprising industrial companies and automobile manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, universities, and technology and research institutions are to input, exchange and expand their know-how and experience in selected regions within Europe. Electromobility will make an important contribution toward reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Green eMotion is intended to ensure the fast-track success of electric vehicles, said Siim Kallas, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner responsible for Transport. The project volume has been budgeted at EUR 42 million, of which the EU will contribute as much as EUR 24 million.
The partners in the initiative are to accumulate experience with electromobility in existing and new test regions within Europe and refine the technology. Key issue is the development of European processes, standards and IT solutions that allow customers of electric vehicles easy and seamless access to charging infrastructure and related services throughout the European Union. Standardization is also the key factor for a fast and cost-efficient European rollout of electromobility. The total number of charging spots within the existing demonstration regions will be more than 10,000, as nearly 1000 are going to be installed in Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga, some 400 in Rome and Pisa, approximately 3600 in Berlin and about 100 in Strasbourg. In Denmark, the country with the worlds largest share of wind-based power generation, car importers expect to put 2,000 electric cars on the roads over the course of this year and as many as 2,000 public and semi public charging stations will be installed in Copenhagen, Bornholm and Malmö. Furthermore, some 2,000 electric vehicles and approximately 3,500 charging stations are part of a nation wide rollout in Ireland.
The local concepts applied to date, in which experience was accumulated in specific demonstration regions, will now be bundled in cross-European trials. The aim is to pave the way for electromobility throughout Europe. This will require standards for infrastructure, networking and IT, said Heike Barlag from Siemens, who coordinates the Green eMotion project. By bundling individual activities in a major partner initiative were gaining momentum and transparency, and ensuring the coordinated development of electromobility. Experience with cars, busses and two-wheelers with pure electric drive systems and as hybrid vehicles is to be gathered in the Green eMotion project. Special aspects in some of the demonstration regions include battery swapping and DC charging as well as smart grid integration, cross-border traffic, different payment systems and the testing of alternative business models.
Within the Green eMotion initiative, Enel Distribuzione, the Enel Groups Distribution System Operator, is leading the Regional Coordination Board which oversees demo activities at the regional level. Over more, Enel Distribuzione will devise and deploy the recharge infrastructure for electric vehicles in Italy, it will coordinate the Italian demo projects as well as collaborating in most research activities thanks to the experience acquired through previous initiatives in the electric mobility field. Enel Distribuzione is cooperating with Daimler to test electric vehicles in three major Italian cities, where it is developing innovative recharging infrastructure. The company is also involved in the European Technology Platform SmartGrid and is also the coordinator of the Seventh Framework (FP7) project ADDRESS that aims at delivering a favourable commercial and technical framework for the development of Active Demand in the smart grids of the future. Finally, Enel Distribuzione is involved in the FP7 Project Grid for Vehicles (G4V) which is aimed at evaluating the impact of the mass roll out of electric vehicles in Europe.
The partners in the Green eMotion Initiative are the industrial companies Alstom, Better Place, Bosch, IBM and Siemens, the utilities Danish Energy Association, EDF, Endesa, Enel, ESB, Eurelectric, Iberdrola, RWE and PPC, the automobile manufacturers BMW, Daimler, Micro-Vett, Nissan and Renault, the municipalities Barcelona, Berlin, Bornholm, Copenhagen, Cork, Dublin (represented by the energy agency Codema), Malaga, Malmo and Rome, the universities and research institutions Cartif, Cidaut, CTL, DTU, ECN, Imperial, IREC, RSE, TCD and Tecnalia, and the technology institutions DTI, fka and TÜV NORD.
Enel is Italys largest power company, and Europes second listed utility by installed capacity. It is an integrated player, active in the power and gas sectors. Enel operates in 40 countries worldwide, has over 97,000 MW of net installed capacity and sells power and gas to more than 61 million customers.