Source: Presidency of the Republic
Within the framework of the MOVÉS project, the call for delivery companies interested in testing electric vehicles, such as bicycles and utility vehicles, was launched on Tuesday 9 in Montevideo. The idea is to link the importing firms of these vehicles with those who make deliveries, to break down technological barriers and verify the economic, environmental, safety and health benefits of their use.
Pablo Caldeiro, interim director of Energy of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining, explained that the initiative to test electric vehicles allows the interested businesses to use them for 30 days, before acquiring them, thus fulfilling one of the main tasks of the MOVÉS project, which is to disseminate the use of these technologies and verify their economic, environmental, health and safety benefits, among others.
Given the intensity of use of delivery vehicles, their change to electric technology can have great benefits for the city and the environment, such as reducing polluting emissions and noise, as well as making better use of the renewable energies in Uruguay’s electric power generation matrix, he explained.
MOVÉS is a project financed by the Global Environment Fund (GEF) that seeks to support and enhance local capacities and promote sustainable mobility, particularly in the area of energy. The ministries of Industry, Energy and Mining and of Housing, Land Planning, and Environment, among other organizations, intervene in it.
The way to charge these vehicles is simply with a Schuko-type socket, but the user will have the permanent technological support of the importing companies.
The presentation of the day is preceded by the launch of a call held on February 14, aimed at supplier companies interested in renting tricycles and electric pedal-assisted bicycles for distribution. They were given until March 12 to present themselves and a subsidy for the use of six tricycles and six bicycles for one year.
MOVÉS belongs to the global project called Towards a Sustainable and Efficient Urban Mobility System in Uruguay, which receives an economic contribution from the GEF, through the United Nations Development Program, of 1.7 million dollars and, in return, the national contribution, through state and municipal offices and private institutions, for the sum of just over 20 million pesos. The established deadlines range from November 2017 to October 2021.
Currently, there is a fleet of electric cars made up of about 100 utility vehicles purchased by the state company UTE, in addition to taxis, buses and other private vehicles. For this type of transport there is a green route composed of charging points, which will be increased to expand its use throughout the country.