AREAL – Regional Agency for Energy and Environment of the Algarve will propose to Algarve municipalities the introduction of electric vehicles in their fleets. This initiative seeks to implement in the Algarve region an already successful experience in the Spanish region of Murcia.
This could be, according to AREAL, «one more measure to reinforce the importance of the Algarve as an energy-efficient and environmentally green region».
The study was based on the European project SUM (Sustainable Urban Mobility), an initiative of the European Community that aims to promote sustainable mobility and the electric vehicle.
For José Oliveira, director of AREAL, «the implementation of electric vehicles in municipal fleets and in other institutions and entities, would bring enormous environmental, economic and social benefits. The interest for the region is evident, in addition to being something really viable, with great potential for implementation, taking into account our economic reality».
The Algarve was the only Portuguese partner in this project, which also involved 14 entities from countries such as Spain, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Over two years, each country made a diagnosis of its reality in the areas of "Electrical Mobility", "Biofuels" and "Other Good Practices" and at the end presented to the other partners five initiatives in each of these areas, already implemented in the territory, and which would constitute examples to follow.
Of the various initiatives already implemented in our country and which AREAL chose to present to the other European partners as examples of good practices, they highlighted the implementation of a network for charging electric vehicles in the city of Faro (in the 'Electrical Mobility' category) and the collection of cooking oil in the Algarve region (in the 'Biofuels' category).
For the director of AREAL, “it was a pleasant surprise to see that we already do a lot of things well and that, in terms of developing certain environmental practices, we are aware of what is best done in Europe”.
The SUM project started in 2012 and ended this year. In the end, each partner chose an initiative from another partner, to take it to their country and implement it there.
AREAL chose the project from the municipality of Murcia, in Spain, which uses electric vehicles to clean the streets and collect waste.
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