Florence is increasingly a candidate to be one of the most avant-garde smart cities in Italy. The last two stages of the digitization of the Tuscan capital concern electric mobility, through a collaboration between the Municipality and Enel which is already active and operational in the city also on another front, that of ultra-broadband: in fact, Open Fiber, an Enel joint venture cdp, in Florence, around 2019% of the property units will be cabled in FTTH optical fiber by 80, with an investment of around 50 million.
Returning to electric mobility, news coming for the Fast Recharge Plus recharges dedicated to electric taxis, which allow the car to be recharged in about 20 minutes: after the first two stations in piazza Francia and via del Cavallaccio, two other recharge stations were inaugurated this morning in the contraviale Guidoni and piazzale Donatello and it was agreed with the Municipality and with the taxi drivers of Florence the installation of two additional columns in via Venosta and in another position to be defined. The Fast Recharge Plus allows fast charging, in alternating current at 22-43 kW and direct current at 50 kW, of the electric vehicles dedicated to the Florence taxi fleet. The recharging process is managed remotely through the "Electric Mobility Management" - EMM system, also providing value-added services to the user, such as real-time information on the position of the columns, recharge status, booking possibilities, and other services .
The creation of the system of super fast recharge columns for taxi drivers is part of a larger project, which sees the Municipality of Florence and Enel partners and provides for investments of over 30 million euros in the three pilot cities, 25 of which financed by the European Commission and the rest by private individuals. Over the next 5 years, investments of 10 million euros will be made in the city of Florence in the Novoli/Piagge/Cascine district, implementing a complex and integrated action aimed at improving energy efficiency (smartgrid, smartlighting, district heating for over 700 users with solar seasonal storage, 600 smart info devices), sustainable mobility (conversion of 100 taxis with thermal engines to electric motors, extension of the electric recharging network with fast recharge service, apps for citizens and tourists), the development of ICT and internet of things IoT (urban control center with platform common to the three pilot cities, smart benches, smartwaste), resilience and security (smartgrid, video surveillance, SOS).
Today Florence is already the municipality in Italy with the largest number of 100% electric taxis: 70 taxi drivers responded to the announcement published last June by the Municipality for the exercise of the service with electric propulsion vehicles. There are already 179 Enel charging infrastructures for public use present in Florence, a number that places the Tuscan capital at the top of the ranking of cities with the most charging stations.
In response to the European Union's UIA (Urban Innovative Action) call, the Municipality of Florence and Enel also presented the FURBA (Florence Urban Rapid Bus Transport) project, which envisages the activation of a public transport corridor created through 4 fully electric buses 18 meters long which would guarantee a service with a frequency equal to 5 minutes. As part of this project, Enel will build a fast charging station (350kW) with pantograph, capable of guaranteeing complete charging of the electric bus batteries in 10 minutes and a 2 kW V50G charging station which will also make it possible to optimize energy inside the bus parking depot by exploiting the energy produced by photovoltaic panels (10 kW).
Meanwhile, speaking of Enel, the energy group today also received the promotion of Berenberg analysts who confirmed the Buy recommendation on securities the target price was revised upwards to 5,75 euro from the previous 4,50 euro. Enel's quotations on Piazza Affari indicate a gain of 0,33% to 4,936 euros in the early afternoon, in contrast with the main FtseMib index, which is in negative territory.
