In the evening and at the weekend they will be car-sharing service
Bergamo will experiment an innovative model of electric car sharing on its municipal ground. As a demonstration site of the European project “LIFE ENV I-SharE: innovative sharing solutions for small and medium urban areas”, the Municipality of Bergamo has decided to invest about 40,000 euros for the supply of 4 state-of-the-art electric cars.
Starting from April, 4 Renault Zoe R90 Intens, with a nominal autonomy of 400 km, will be shared between municipal administration and citizenship. These cars will be part of the municipal fleet from 8.00 to 18.00 from Monday to Friday and they will become usable by all citizens from 18.00 to 8.00 and for the entire duration of Saturday and holidays.
The partner identified for this service is E-Vai, a member of the FNM group already active in car sharing business throughout Lombardy. Since 2011 E-Vai offers the first electric car sharing service with regional diffusion and integrated with rail transport. It boasts a fleet of vehicles of the latest generation with low environmental impact; 90% of car fleet is completely electric and the remaining vehicles are hybrid cars. Thanks to about 100 E-Vai points present in strategic places (airports, stations, squares, hospitals, universities) in more than 30 locations in Lombardy., E-Vai offers services not only for citizens, but also for companies, both private and public, as a tool for improving and reducing the costs of business mobility.
“With this project – explains the Councilor for Mobility Stefano Zenoni – various objectives and numerous new elements are pursued. First of all, 4 electric cars will be made available to citizens, as well as cars that can be rented on request in the 4 E-Vai Points in Bergamo. Furthermore, the Municipality is experimenting with a model that could have interesting developments in the future, ie that of sharing its fleet of vehicles with fellow citizens. For a small-medium city, where car sharing systems struggle to develop for mere private initiative and at the same time the available resources are limited, this hybridization can be a positive turning point. The sharing economy is therefore also declined in sharing the means of the institutions with their citizens. Finally, the Municipality, – concludes Zenoni – abandons the logic of the purchase of its vehicles in favor of a service supply, thus guaranteeing the continuous updating of its vehicles to vehicles with low environmental impact. ”
“We are happy to realize here in the city of Bergamo the first demonstration site of the European I-SharE Life Project – commented Augusto De Castro, E-Vai Managing Director – The Municipality has made available to incorporate a particularly innovative electric car sharing model , which is based on the sharing of the cars of its fleet with the citizens, according to different time bands of use and compatible with each other. This is a concrete and effective solution to promote mobility that is less impacting on the environment, thanks to the use of electric vehicles, but with important benefits also from the point of view of economic sustainability for all those involved. This model we are creating here in Bergamo, is easily replicable in small-medium sized contexts with a high demand for mobility that are not reached by the big car-sharing operators. ”