- The Memorandum of Understanding is intended as a means of implementing joint projects aimed at increasing advanced air mobility globally, with a focus on electrical and charging infrastructures
Rome, November 14th, 2022 — Developing new solutions for the advanced air mobility sector by broadening the scope of its business. Enel X Way, the Enel company dedicated to electric mobility, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UrbanV, a company specializing in Advanced Air Mobility in order to leverage each other’s expertise and to work in synergy on joint global projects, researching energy solutions for UrbanV’s vertiports that will allow eVTOL – electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft – to be charged in a sustainable way. Such projects will involve researching and building Enel X Way electrical infrastructures to be integrated with energy storage systems in vertiports, i.e. dedicated hubs for eVTOLs, defining specific usage cases, and offering a customer experience that can be tailored to the needs of the various markets.
“By signing this MoU, we have become the first company in Italy to provide charging solutions for electric vertical take-off aircraft, which truly is a remarkable achievement after that of electric boating and which enables us to explore a new field when it comes to the development of sustainable mobility,” said Lorenzo Rambaldi, Head of Innovability at Enel X Way. “Advanced air mobility is an extremely innovative and fast-growing sector, both in Italy and worldwide, and helping it to grow is an opportunity for Enel X Way to increase its commitment to developing advanced charging technologies to power various types of electric vehicles.”
“With this MoU, we are initiating a collaboration with a world-leading partner, which shows just how determined these two companies are to work together with a future-oriented approach in order to find innovative, sustainable, and truly effective solutions in this new mobility ecosystem,” siad Carlo Tursi, CEO of UrbanV “UrbanV is emerging as one of the global leaders in the field of Advanced Air Mobility and is striving to make Rome one of the first cities in the world to offer direct connections with electric aircraft. We are currently building networks of vertiports in other regions of Europe (such as in Venice, Bologna, and the French Riviera) and even worldwide in order to accelerate the transition to mobility so as to reduce not only CO2 emissions but also noise pollution.”
Through this agreement, a fully green and fast means of public transport will be available for use on a large scale. As a result, innovative and sustainable Enel X Way charging infrastructures will be implemented in UrbanV’s vertiports worldwide, starting with Rome and Fiumicino. Electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft exclusively rely on electricity to fly by using electric engines and batteries, which are the best way to meet growing global interest and demand in this sector of electric mobility, not only because they are sustainable, but also because they are a convenient alternative to road vehicles. According to industry estimates, eVTOLs have 35% lower operating costs than helicopters and have the potential to become an inexpensive and sustainable alternative to road transport, especially in heavily congested cities. This is already taking hold in Italy: in fact, UrbanV recently opened the first test vertiport at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, where the first piloted eVTOL was flown. Before long, everyone will have the chance to experience going to a vertiport and boarding an eVTOL. Enel X Way will be supplying the technological infrastructure for managing vertiports and charging these flying taxis. After an initial test phase, the service will be available as early as 2024, offering passengers the opportunity to enjoy fast, emission-free flights in an urban environment.
Enel X Way is the Enel Group’s new company dedicated to electric mobility. Currently, Enel X Way operates in 16 countries and manages over 430,000 charging points, both directly and through roaming agreements in place around the world. As a global platform for e-Mobility, the company is focused on developing flexible charging technologies and solutions to improve the customer experience and to enable the electrification of transport for consumers, businesses, cities and public administrations.