Finland plan to build the first green highway was strongly advertised and made public last month. We also gave notice of it through the SWOMM website.

In a recent post, Bengt Magnusson, Editor-in-chief and Europe correspondent for the ERA magazine, in the Euractiv blog, introduced  a green highway project implemented by Sweden and Norway, which would now take the first place alongside the Finnish project on our ideal podium of innovative transport projects.

The Sweden and Norwegian Green Highway, in fact, stretches from the Atlantic to the Baltic, connecting Norwegian town Trondheim with Swedish town Sundsvall. The green Highway and the electric car project is one part in the effort of the Sundsvall-Östersund and Trondheim municipalities cooperation aimed to develop infrastructure and valid communications. The project is examining the feasibility of establishing filling stations for environmentally friendly fuels and charging poles for electric vehicles along the SÖT axis. Web-based map solutions and other information material aimed at marketing sustainable mobility solutions should emerge in the end together with other concrete final outcomes. The Municipality of Trondheim has already purchased 23 electric vehicles and several workshops on the theme had already taken place. Green Highway and the electric vehicle project form part of an European Interreg project started in 2008 and still ongoing.

According to the SWOMM mandate, we cannot but welcome more and more “green highways” including plans to promote the use of sustainable solutions for mobility, such as electric charging points or less polluting fuels… Thus… Are there other green projects which have the ambition to raise to the challenge?

Related links

• http://euractiv.blogactiv.eu/
• http://www.greenhighway.nu
• http://www.swomm.info

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With this regard, we thereby signal the 5th edition of East Forum 2010, which will specifically focus on sustainability, being entitled “Re-thinking the present in order to design the future: choosing sustainability”. Co-organized by UniCredit Group, the forum will be held on 8 July 2010 at Luiss, in Rome.

The panelist includes several eminent speakers from relevant companies, national and European institutions as well as prestigious international organizations which are involved in environmental, economic and political issues.

The speakers’ investigations aim to analyse the international scenario on sustainability, to conceive innovative proposals for the future, which may result important also for the SWOMM goals, in particular improving sustainable transport in mountain areas. They will define a new model of sustainable development, to face current challenges and exploit present opportunities such as the green economy. The distinct roles and tasks held by institutions, governments, companies and civil society in shaping this model will also be investigated, as well as the possible policies to be implemented to make good progress towards qualitative and human development. In the website you can find the electronic edition of many relevant international papers concerning sustainable development guidelines, as well as links with related initiatives, including SWOMM.

A further tidbit on the Conference: the organizing team (together with the group of students LUISS Sostenibile) seems to be really devoted to green economy and sustainability. Indeed, all the printed matters are made of recycled paper, speakers will travel by electric cars, the event will be powered as much as possible by means of renewable energy and the buffet is at zero kilometers. Furthermore, emissions credits are being purchased from a carbon reduction project in Chicago.

Enjoy the East Forum 2010 and – above all – the cause of sustainable development!

The Company “Freestyle PLC” is launching Solaris Elettra, an electric car for Ethiopia. In fact, the production and sale of the two versions of Solaris Elettra (costing around $12,000 and $15,000) will take place in Addis Ababa. The cars will finally take off for Africa and Europe’s markets.

The question is if Africa with its electricity shortages, low level of wealth per capita and poor infrastructure endowment, is ready for the production and spread of electric cars.

According to the general manager of Freestyle PLC, Carlo Pironti, Ethiopia’s electricity shortages were not an obstacle, as in the future the power supply should strongly increase. Furthermore, the manager underlines that Solaris Elettra can be recharged by generator and solar power.
To face customers’ budgetary problems, Mr Pironti says that his company will develop a credit system for people unable to afford the cost of Solaris Elettra: indeed Ethiopian taxes on cars could be very high and average salaries are low.

Wayne Batty, senior writer at South Africa’s Topcar magazine, points out that by now electric cars may be reserved for short trips (40 to 50 km), since infrastructure and recharging points are still lacking across African countries.

Ethiopia is the second African country, after South Africa, involved in the production and promotion of an electric car. With the recent Rwanda’s launch of a bio-diesel bus, Africa is demonstrating a strong interest in cutting-edge technologies for sustainable mobility.

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According to experts, the selling price of electric cars is going to fall as soon as they are concretely sold by car dealers. In addition a purely commercial incentive to electric cars is the separation of the ownership of the batteries: since they still are expensive, if they were provided separately from the car (and assimilated with running costs), the car’s price could fall dramatically.

The establishment of national networks of battery-exchange stations is a pre-requisite to extend the use of electric cars beyond the boundaries of a metropolitan area. In this line it is worth mentioning the initiative of Better Place, a California based company, which is ready to build networks of car-charging and battery-swapping stations that will use robots to exchange exhausted batteries for fully charged ones in seconds. Stations are planned in Israel, Denmark, Hawaii and Australia and a partnership with Renault-Nissan Alliance has already been started to assure that new electric vehicles from the French group use BP-compatible batteries.

Concerning the batteries, it is worth recalling the Nissan-Renault joint venture with French government agencies to develop, build and recycle batteries for electric cars, which involves the French Atomic Energy Commission and might be supported by the European Investment Bank. Renault expects batteries’ recycling and reuse in energy storage and backup power applications (traditionally, secondary markets for batteries after their useful life in vehicle applications).

Looking at what is happening downstairs is useful also for them who look at the mountains!

Other articles you might be interested in!

Viewing the Future from the Past: Battery-Electric Vehicles and Better Place
Better Place Unveils Electric-Car Software
Le auto ibride e la droga rumore
Project Better Place realizzerà le infrastrutture per le auto elettriche anche in Giappone
BP applauds Hawaii’s electric car legislation

The commitment of the biggest French automotive group to assure a better climate and a cleaner environment to future generations by putting on the market innovative “ZerO Emissions” electric vehicles would have failed to consider the possible impact of a car named “ZoE” on the wellbeing of the French couples whose daughters have the same name.

If the future quality of life of the Zoes growing up in France has to be protected, this won’t be the case if the last generation electric vehicle with that same name will be marketed, one should argue following the reasoning of a father whose daughter carries the same name.

The protest is growing (480 Zoe defenders have signed the petition so far), and unexpected by-products might result in the next weeks. For instance, a friend of mine has a small barking nice dog called as the Renault’s new electric car. Is she going to join the protest?

Furthermore, a remarkable group of friends and relatives of mine already drive a Mégane. A fact which has not yet shown relevant consequences on the ladies of the same name.

Should they fear their honest, serviceable automobiles to be banned from the market?

Moreover, no news as of yet have come from Venice about strikes of its citizens against the Renault Laguna. We do hope Genova won’t be the starting point of a global movement against the lexical choices of this innovative French company.

What do you think?

In the future of Alpine tourism and more in general of mountain regions, private mobility is due to become increasingly limited. Public transport therefore will probably have a stronger role. We have asked dr. Genova if he believes that ICT will introduce profound changes as it has already occurred in other fields of application.

Dr. Genova replied: “The use of electric vehicles provides a number of specific advantages which make them particularly attractive for urban traffic and in valuable areas such as mountain areas: low emissions, silence, better efficiency in stop and go journeys. It appears as the most convincing answer to environmental issues.

It is in this direction that the project and industrial efforts have focused their attention to define new ways of using electric buses. This innovation can extend the range of their use and therefore reduce electric buses’ running costs. Among the most promising options available, the effectiveness of which are validated by the daily use by some brave transport companies, are the inductive fast recharge for electric buses, and the use of turbines for recharging batteries of hybrid buses on board .

Public transport can and must in this way play a critical role inducing citizens to an ever more frequent use of collective means of transport: the town of Wengen, in the Bernese Alps can be reached only with Wengenalpenbahn and mobility is only for pedestrians. Delivery services are guaranteed thanks to the use of small electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles, special plants, ICT systems supporting mobility: today there is plenty of technological solutions but also the needed financial tools. Many national and regional laws offer incentives for the purchase of public and private electric vehicles: less frequent have been until now interventions in the field of operative facilitations which are part of the leeway of local administrations whom have been recently increasingly interested in environmental issues”.

This interesting intervention of Shai Agassi during the TED “A Greener Future” event tries to give an answer to the question “What Role for the Electric Car“.

In Shai Agassi’s view the answer “comes from separating between the car ownership and the battery ownership. ..this is the classic (option) ‘batteries not included’. In this way it is possible to answer to the need for a convenient car by creating a network (of recharging stations) before car show up”.

Other articles you might find interesting:
Nissan Zero Emission
Showroom for new solutions

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