Green eMotion is propelling electric mobility all over Europe

Green eMotion, the largest European research and development project for electric mobility, is examining which requirements need to be fulfilled in the European Union, in order to implement comfortable, cross-border transport with electric cars. First and foremost uniform procedures and standards have to be defined, with which cross-border IT solutions can be developed. For VERBUND, cooperation with Green eMotion would be a logical extension of its commitment to sustainable solution in mobility and to reaching its climate goals.

Green eMotion is a transnational initiative carried out over 4 years to promote electric mobility in selected European model regions. 42 participating industry and automobile companies, electricity companies, local authorities and universities as well as test-control and research facilities will contribute their knowledge, exchange experiences and in this way extend their shared understanding and know-how. This is the basis for defining the tasks and the roll to be played by different stakeholders and market participants.

Above all, VERBUND will be involved in the areas of information and communications technology, demonstration and dissemination. Together with SMATRICS, cross-border solutions for electric mobility will be developed. The connection to different roaming platforms has already been planned to be carried out in the course of the year.

The goal of the initiative is above all the development of European uniform procedures, standards and IT solutions. This standardisation is a requirement so that users of electric vehicles can have easy and border-free access to charging infrastructure and to the related services across all of the European Union. The model regions which have been included in the project, have more than 10,000 charging columns. The project volume is planned to cost 42 million euros, of which the EU will contribute 24 million. "The local approaches up until now, which have been collected through the experiences in individual model regions, will be included in Green eMotion. The goal is to smooth the way for electric mobility all over Europe, where standards for infrastructure, networking and IT are still needed", says Heike Barlag from Siemens, who is coordinating the project Green eMotion. "By consolidating individual activities into a large whole, we will gain speed as well as transparency and will be able to make sure there is a coordinated development of electric mobility."

As one of the largest electricity producers from hydropower in Europe, VERBUND is setting the tone in generating electricity from renewable energy sources. Electricity is a "fuel" of the future. Electric mobility is the most efficient and- when using green electricity- the most environmentally-friendly form of motorised travel. Thanks to its high proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy sources- about two thirds, Austria is predestined for e-mobility. In this way, CO2 emissions due to personal vehicle traffic would be considerably lowered by 2050.

"We have already been driving forward numerous projects and programmes for e-mobility for years. This has also been carried out across borders, such as within the framework of CROSSING BORDERS, which connects Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg and Munich with e-mobility. Electric mobility will become part of an integrated energy service and must therefore already now be included in the development of new business models for this sector" highlights Wolfgang Pell, Managing Director of VERBUND-Solutions. A recent example of this is the E-Mobility-Provider which was founded together with SIEMENS Austria: Under the SMATRICS brand, there is currently already a high performance charging network all over Austria for e-cars and plug-in vehicles. By the middle of 2014, an extensive supply with at least one charging station within a perimeter of around 60km will have been achieved. The next step will involve the concentration of the network along the main routes in areas of high population density. For more information visit: smatrics.com.