By: AJOT | Nov 22 2017 at 10:00 AM | Ports & Terminals

The facility invests about € 1 million to promote electric mobility, one of the measures of the Port of Barcelona’s Air Quality Improvement Plan

The Port of Barcelona has unveiled an initiative to promote electrical mobility in the port area, in which it has invested a total of € 926,000. The project comprises two main actions: incorporating vehicles with electric motors into the Port fleet and installing the charging infrastructure, both for the fleet itself and for other electric vehicles that circulate around the port area. This set of measures to foster electrical mobility is part of the Port of Barcelona’s Air Quality Improvement Plan, which aims to effectively reduce the emissions from port activity.

Thus, the Port of Barcelona has invested a total € 692,000 by incorporating 31 vehicles into its fleet of vehicles, replacing old diesel and petrol-powered units. Specifically, these are 25 pure electric units (including 17 Nissan Leaf 30 kwh passenger cars and eight Nissan e-NV200 vans) and six electric scooters (BMW C Evolution, for the Port Police). The first 25 vehicles (cars and vans) have been acquired and the remaining six have been incorporated into the fleet by means of renting. Apart from these 31 purely electrical units, the Port has introduced three plug-in hybrid vehicles (VW Passat Hybrid) into its fleet, also using renting.

General Manager of the Port of Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, and President of the Port of Barcelona, Sixte Cambra, stand by the fleet of electric vehicles.

In addition to the above, the Port has invested € 234,000 in designing and building the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. For the electrical supply of the own fleet vehicles, 28 slow loading points have been installed in the carpark at the World Trade Center in Barcelona, where the corporate headquarters of the Port is located. In addition, there are 14 charging points (six for vans and eight for motorcycles) in the ASTA service building (Ronda del Port) and two additional charging points for the Port Police motorcycles at the Drassanes Passenger Terminal (Barcelona Wharf). Furthermore, three charging points have been installed for public use: one fast charger in front of the Drassanes Passenger Terminal (which can be converted into two semi-fast charging points and will be operating soon) and two slow chargers on Energy Wharf.

During the first half of 2018, four additional cargo points will also be incorporated for Port employees, who will be located in the car parks of the ASTA building and on Sant Bertran Wharf.

Fostering electrical mobility to reduce emissions

Sixte Cambra, President of the Port of Barcelona, highlighted the importance of this set of actions: “As a public entity, we want to promote sustainability with concrete initiatives, such as those we are presenting today, and we want to be leaders so that other entities and companies in the Port Community can join this change”.

Port General Manager José Alberto Carbonell recalled the Port of Barcelona’s long history promoting sustainable mobility of people by promoting public transport. Two examples that demonstrate this are the Port’s participation in financing for the integration of bus line 88 (which connects the entire port area from Paral.lel Avenue to the Logistics Activities Zone - ZAL Prat) and the subsidy for the quarterly Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) travel card for any employees who use public transport instead of driving to work.

The Port of Barcelona electrical mobility plan covers the introduction of new electric or hybrid vehicles over the next few years, which, along with those already available, could reach 70 units in 2024. Bringing these units on stream will depend on the future needs of the Port and also on the evolution of electric mobility technology. The Port’s fleet of vehicles consists of a hundred units, but some vehicles’ characteristics or needs of use mean they cannot be replaced at the moment by electrical units (such as firefighting or industrial vehicles).

The Port of Barcelona also contributes to promoting sustainable mobility by incorporating formulas to promote electric vehicles or those powered by alternative energies in its tendering and contracting services. At present, vehicles used in gardening services, ancillary conservation works and civil engineering works and the electrical maintenance of the Port are already electrical units.

Air quality improvement plan

The promotion of electric mobility is one of the 53 actions included in the Port of Barcelona Air Quality Improvement Plan that was presented just over a year ago. Other notable actions are the promotion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as mobility fuel for boats, trucks and terminal machinery and the discount policy on vessel fees to attract the most efficient vessels at environmental level.

The Port’s plan to reduce the emissions of the port is part of two more far-reaching plans by the Catalan Government, the Generalitat (2015-2020 Air Quality Improvement Plan for the Metropolitan Region) and Barcelona City Council (2015-2018 Air Quality Improvement Plan for Barcelona). The document proposes a wide range of areas for improvement: reducing emissions from vessels, traffic, terminal machinery, port construction and dry bulk; promoting rail transport