Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Barcelona, Spain Introduces Charging Stations

Barcelona to premiere electric motorcycle charging stations in September.


The head of the Department of the Environment of the City of Barcelona, Xavier Felip, said that the will of the municipality is to extend the initiative to various locations in the city, such as the Maritime Zone, the city centre or the University area, among others.
Barcelona, Spain Introduces Charging Stations

Barcelona to premiere electric motorcycle charging stations in September.The first eight will be installed in the district of 22  
  and will recharge up to 25 vehicles simultaneously.

  Companies, Mobec Point and Schneider Electric, have  submitted a tender to place re-charging stations in the Montmelo racetrack, and to install electric motorbike charging in the Catalan capital from next September. The stations can charge up to 25 vehicles simultaneously, it is so "simple and safe," according to a joint statement from the companies, that forecast 40,000 electric bikes will be in use by 2016.

The two companies have stressed that the stations are designed to operate using renewable energy, "emissions of carbon dioxide from the electric bikes are zero." The next instalment of eight stations by Point Mobec in the district of 22 @ Barcelona is part of an initial period of tests in which different manufacturers installed charging points in the city.

For its part, the general director of the Mobec Point company, Jordi Ventura, has stressed that Barcelona is "the second city in Europe, behind Rome in the number of motorcycles" and has highlighted the benefits of the electric motor, for example "it does not pollute, is quiet and economical." Ventura has been underlined in this respect that the average cost of the new vehicle is "less than one euro per 100 kilometres," so he said that " electrical mobility is no longer a future possibility but a reality available to all citizens of Barcelona".