Electric mobility: the Regions accelerate on green plans

The ongoing pandemic is irreversibly affecting the moving mode of people, determining the need for a change that will have to follow an increasingly sustainable direction.

The need to guarantee social distancing implies the adoption of solutions other than public transport but returning to greater use of individual vehicles makes it imperative accelerating the development of zero-emission vehicles. The institutions are moving in the wake of these changes, pressed by the main national stakeholders of the electric mobility. 

Monday in the Transport Commission of the Lazio region there has been talk of very ambitious goals for 2025 in terms of infrastructure for electric mobility. In the context of the hearings on the "Regional Energy Plan", the need to bring forward to 2025-30 the objective envisaged for 2050 to install 200.000 charging stations for electric cars (today there are 1.130 recharging points in Lazio). To understand the extent of the goal, just think of February on national soil they counted each other 13.721 charging points in 7.203 stations accessible to the public.

On the other hand, last Thursday, at the Joint State-Regions Conference, the update was unexpectedly announced National infrastructure plan for electric recharges (PNire). On that occasion, the need to involve the Municipalities in the reforms of the Urban Plans for Sustainable Mobility (PUMS) emerged, with the Anci requesting prior information on the work of Misteg, the technical table that brings together representatives of the Ministries of Development and Transport and the Energy Authority.

The association of Municipalities has also requested the opening to the Municipalities of the single national platform which conveys information on public recharging infrastructures present in the national territory, which has never been made public yet.

Moving further north, with an openly global ambition, the American one Silk EV, in joint venture with the Chinese FAW and the Emilia-Romagna Region instead undertook in June to define the stages that will lead to the birth of a electric car hub in the Motor Valley.

With a few examples, it is easy to grasp the greater prominence of local administrations and territories in the context of green transition policies, which cannot fail to start from the transport sector, responsible for around 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe.

La urban and regional experimentation it has become a new governance tool for the challenges of sustainability, as the territories are characterized by a dense network of infrastructures and services and by advantages in terms of proximity to stakeholders and institutional support mechanisms.

In order for mobility to become green and sustainable, radical innovations and new business models will be needed in which the concept of ownership of the means of transport will be replaced by the offer of services available on a digital platform.

The Coronavirus has also given a strong boost to the development of electric micro-mobility and looking at the data published in a lime report excellent results could be expected for the experiments of electric scooter sharing services underway in many Italian cities. 

In Italy there are about 20.000 electric cars and the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) aims for the deployment of 5-6 million vehicles by 2030, of which 4 should be pure electric and about 2 plug-in hybrids: a courageous goal, to be achieved with the strong involvement of local institutions and industry stakeholders.

Some studies show that in countries at the forefront in the diffusion of electric vehicles, the role played by public policies has been decisive with a clear correlation between the offer of financial incentives and the diffusion intensity of new technologies. Public support for the electric vehicle industry and the development of recharging infrastructure therefore seems essential, but the current rules on state aid, conceived as a brake on unfair competition within the European single market, often constitute an obstacle to strategic investments. Who knows, maybe Italy can obtain a derogation in light of the exceptional situation in progress, as requested by the representatives of the e-mobility industry. Meanwhile, the eyes are focused on the two days of Extraordinary European Council which will begin this Thursday, in which the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli will illustrate the position of the Eurochamber on the Recovery Fund and the EU Budget 2021-2027 and where courageous funding is expected for green policies and sustainable mobility.