Barcelona gets behind the use of electric vehicles

Electric mobility is one of the measures included in the Port of Barcelona’s Air Quality Improvement Plan. Its latest initiative to promote electrical mobility has seen the port invest €926,000.

“As a public entity, we want to promote sustainability with concrete initiatives, such as those we are presenting today, and we want to be leaders so that other entities and companies in the Port Community can join this change,” said Sixte Cambra, President of the Port of Barcelona.

Barcelona’s latest investment has seen the port taking two main actions; incorporating vehicles with electric motors into the port fleet and installing the charging infrastructure, both for the fleet itself and for other electric vehicles that circulate around the port area.

The 31 new vehicles are made up of 25 pure electric units (including 17 Nissan Leaf 30 kwh passenger cars and eight Nissan e-NV200 vans) and six electric scooters (BMW C Evolution, for the Port Police).

In addition, the port has introduced three rented plug-in hybrid vehicles (VW Passat Hybrid) into its fleet.

Charging points

To service these vehicles, the port has invested €234,000 in designing and building charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, 28 slow loading points have been installed in the carpark at the World Trade Center in Barcelona, where the corporate headquarters of the Port is located.

In addition, there are 14 charging points (six for vans and eight for motorcycles) in the ASTA service building (Ronda del Port) and two additional charging points for the Port Police motorcycles at the Drassanes Passenger Terminal (Barcelona Wharf).

Furthermore, three charging points have been installed for public use: one fast charger in front of the Drassanes Passenger Terminal (which can be converted into two semi-fast charging points and will be operating soon) and two slow chargers on Energy Wharf.

The Port of Barcelona electrical mobility plan covers the introduction of new electric or hybrid vehicles over the next few years, which, along with those already available, could reach 70 units in 2024.