News

From Bulgaria

Electric vehicles (EV) are an important part of electric mobility, but they are not the only solution, Laurent Dauby, UITP Director Knowledge and Membership Services Department, UITP (Belgium) said at the conference “Electric Vehicles - Challenges of the New Mobility” which takes place today and tomorrow in Sofia, Bulgaria. The event is organized by the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (MEET). According to Mr. Dauby, the really sustainable cities like Munich, Vienna, Copenhagen, etc. rely equally on personal vehicles, public transport, and walking/cycling. The cities which achieve such balance, will have efficiency in several directions: energy consumption; costs; free space; and carbon emissions. Moreover, Dauby added, such cities usually rank among the top-cities in “good place for living” charts because of the advantages of balanced mobility means.

The conference, which takes place in the Sofia Hilton Hotel, gathered representatives of the public administration, business, academics and NGOs. During his welcome speech, energy minister Traicho Traikov said that Bulgaria can replace a large part of its national fleet with EVs, as one of the advantages will be to use them as storage devices for peak shaving both in production and consumption of electricity. For this we will also need Smart Grid, the minister added. Another advantage of EVs, mentioned by Mr. Traikov, is their zero tailpipe emissions - carbon emissions will be produced only in electricity generation and at better efficiency levels, he said.

Representatives of global auto producers were lecturers at the conference. There were presentations by PSA (Peugeot-Citroen), Chevrolet, Renault, Mitsubishi, BMW, etc. A Chinese company producing batteries - Build Your Dreams (BYD Auto) - also presented itself. It is ranked among the top-50 most innovative companies for 2010. Its revenues rose 70% average p.a. in the last several years, Mr. Yongping Chen, BYD Auto Europe, said.

According to data, cited by Mr. Michael Speh, PSA, Director of the EV program at Peugeot-Citroen, electric vehicles have great potential. Mr. Speh noted, that in the EU the daily average trip is 38 km, and 70% of trips are under 30 km. About 40% of trips are below 5 km. In the same time, about 92% of the time cars are in a still position, which allows their integration in the electric grid.

Mr. Sebastian Albertus, General Manager EV Business Development, Personnel Groupe Renault added, that 32% of all vehicles never have a daily trip over 150 km and this is the first segment to be targeted by EV companies. According to Mr. Albertus, an oil-fuelled trip costs 8 EUR per 100 km, while electric trips cost on average 2 EUR per 100 km.

Mr. Hossein Hassani, Chevrolet Europe, presented the Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) Chevrolet Volt, which can use its batteries for 80 km and then switch to on-board production of electricity from a gasoline motor for an additional range of over 500 km. According to Mr. Hassani, this is something that will ensure consumers with the so called “range anxiety”.

During the conference there was also a test-drive option for the participant and media representatives. The EVs Peugeot iOn, Citroen C-Zero, Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Mercedes B-Class were parked in front of the hotel, in addition to some Bulgarian projects - a new converted Renault Cango from the Transport University “Todor Kableshkov” (www.vtu.bg) with a photovoltaic panel on its roof and the first second-hand converted car in Bulgaria -a Fiat Punto. The latter is a project of Electric Mobility Industrial Cluster (EMIC). Minister Traikov also attended the test-drive and the prime minister Boiko Borisov is also expected to test the silent cars tomorrow after the official opening of the event’s second day.