E-Mobility Conference in Romania
CIVINET ROMANIA organized a virtual conference on e-mobility, for Romanian public administrations, transport practitioners and public transport operators, on May 14th and 15th. Originally planned to happen in Timisoara, the online meeting took place over a two-day event, during which the speakers and the participants got information, polls and presentation on e-mobility current situation, clean buses, cargo-bikes and governmental incentives for bus and tram fleet renewal. 80 participants from more than 20 Romanian cities participated.
The share of EVs and PHEVs has increased up by 210%, from ~0.9% in the first half of 2019 to ~2.2% in the second half (out of total new vehicle registrations), in Romania, reveals Romanian E-mobility index, that was recently presented during a conference organized by CIVINET ROMANIA. The growth of electric powered vehicles has been accelerated by significant governmental incentives and by a higher environmental awareness of the consumers.
The study also noticed an increase in the interest for micro-mobility, only in Bucharest 3 new providers offering scooters and bicycles have started operating during the second half of 2019. Comparing to the second half of 2018, when there were zero providers for electric scooters, bikes or unicycles, now there are seven providers operating in different cities in Romania.
Regarding public transport, the representative of the Roanian Environment Fund Administration (EFA) announced that this year there will be launched a new call for public administrations for purchasing e-buses and trams, in order to secure a renewal of the current fleet, since 40% of buses in Romania are over 20 years old. As a first for Romania, the EFA announced they are working to a programme for public administrations to buy buses fuelled by CNG, LNG and hydrogen.
A comprehensive presentation of Clean Bus Europe Platform was delivered by Aida Abdulah, Senior Project Manager at UITP, that spoke about the European legislative framework and about the advantages of joining the platform: ”At the end, everything we do, we do for people and we need to make sure we never forget that rethinking the bus system is an opportunity to improve the whole transport system”, concluded Ms Abdulah.
Unsafe and improper cycling infrastructure was identified as the major barrier in introducing e-cargo-bikes in Romanian cities, by the high majority of the participants. Yet, at the question ”when do you think that cargo-bikes will have a major impact on the mobility system of your city?”, 60% of the participants indicated the year 2025. The topic of cargo-bikes was introduced to the audience by Alba Iulia City, that is partner in CityChangerCargoBike project, and had a very good impact on the audience: 100% of the representatives of the participating cities said they are interested in introducing cargo-bikes in their SUMPs.
CIVINET ROMANIA organized a virtual conference on e-mobility, for Romanian public administrations, transport practitioners and public transport operators, on May 14th and 15th. Originally planned to happen in Timisoara, the online meeting took place over a two-day event, during which the speakers and the participants got information, polls and presentation on e-mobility current situation, clean buses, cargo-bikes and governmental incentives for bus and tram fleet renewal. 80 participants from more than 20 Romanian cities participated.
Author: Violeta Mihalache
