VERBUND Electric Cars... En-Route Across the Frontiers
With immediate effect, a fleet of electric vehicles links the two cities of Vienna and Bratislava as part of the Twin City electric mobility project VIBRATE.
Within the setting of a press conference, Stefan Seipl, Board Director at Západoslovenská energetika, ceremoniously handed over the keys to an electric vehicle to Milan Ftáčnik, mayor of Bratislava. The municipality of Bratislava is a strategic partner in the Twin City electric mobility project Vienna–Bratislava, which was launched at the start of the year under the general management of VERBUND.
On behalf of VERBUND, and in his capacity as project manager, Robert Kettmann from the "Innovation" competence centre participated in the event with a C-Zero from the VERBUND electric vehicle fleet. He used the drive from Vienna to Bratislava to provide the first demonstration of electric vehicle road capability in the cross-border operation. The electric vehicle presented by project partner Západoslovenská energetika to the municipality of Bratislava is one of a total of 20 electric vehicles that will be employed in the region in the next two years as part of the Twin City project. The users are public institutions and private companies, whose sites play host to electric charging stations and whose user experiences will be presented to the public, under the management of the project team.
Austria and Slovakia act as role models
The Twin City electric mobility model region comprises the cities of Bratislava and Vienna, as well as the region between both cities and, therewith, part of Lower Austria as well. With some 3 million inhabitants, the conurbation of Vienna-Bratislava holds a great deal of potential for electric mobility.
The project in question is the first joint project between Austrian and Slovakian energy companies. In addition to EU-Förderagentur GmbH (EU Funding Agency), the project is also being supported by the Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth and all responsible regional government departments, such as the municipal authorities of the cities of Vienna and Bratislava, as well as the provincial governments of Bratislava and Lower Austria.
The project partner
The VIBRATE project brings together leading energy companies and the important driving forces of electric mobility in Austria, such as EVN, VERBUND and Wien Energie. At the same time, they are also members of "Austrian Mobile Power", the platform for electric mobility in Austria. This guarantees synergies and an exchange of experiences between the Twin City model region and Austrian Mobile Power’s current electric mobility projects, such as "emporA" and Austrian model regions, funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund.
Západoslovenská energetika is the leading energy company in Slovakia. The partner "Energy Centre Bratislava" is a non-profit organisation in the sector of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources and provides support for the project management on the Slovakian side.
