Seville will have from July 1 an organized and regulated system for renting electric scooters through the pilot project promoted by the City Council and that will be developed for 18 months by the companies Reby Rides-Maratunes Gestion and Voi Technology that were selected after a process of free competition. To begin with, the city will have 2,000 units distributed in different areas and with more than 200 authorized parking points that will be progressively expanded. Within these parking points, the Cartuja Science and Technology Park has a specific one that will include charging with solar energy through a pilot initiative developed by Solum Photovoltaic Innovation that does not exist in any other city.
The delegate of Urban Habitat, Tourism and Culture, Antonio Munoz; the delegate of the Interior and Major Festivals, Juan Carlos Cabrera, the delegate of Ecological Transition, David Guevara, the director of the PCT Cartuja, Luis Perez, the founder of Reby, Pep Gomez, and the director of Voi for Spain and France, Charlotte Serres , have presented the launch of this pilot project from July 1 at a ceremony held at the parking point developed by Solum, represented by its CEO Carlos Rodriguez, at the Cartuja Science and Technology Park.
The pilot project that starts on July 1 will mean that Reby Rides-Maratunes Gestion and Voi Technology, the two companies selected for the pilot project, will deploy 1,000 electric scooters each in defined areas of the city with more than 200 parking points and rent signposted and reserved. These areas currently have horizontal signage that over the next few months will be completed with the installation of some vertical signage totems. The number and location of the stations may vary throughout the execution of the pilot project.
“The orderly and regulated implementation of the electric scooter rental system meets one of the objectives of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and with the city model that we want to have in Seville with a reduction in vehicle use and a commitment to public transport. , journeys on foot, bicycles and personal mobility vehicles”, highlighted the delegate of the Interior and Major Festivals, Juan Carlos Cabrera. For his part, the delegate for Urban Habitat, Tourism and Culture, Antonio Munoz, highlighted the boost it represents for “all areas of the city and specifically for the Cartuja Science and Technology Park, where the eCitySevilla project is underway and It will become one of the low emission areas of the city in compliance with the Climate Change Law.
Voi will make available to the citizens of Seville the Voiager 4, its most innovative scooter, with a life cycle of more than 5 years and prepared to withstand intensive use in the city. This model will have technological innovations such as elements of its hardware based on the Internet of Things that allow self-diagnosis and predict when they need a review, GPS with 4G technology, antibacterial handlebars that deactivate viruses such as COVID-19 or intermittent to better signal the maneuvers. Soon, the V4 will have other technologies such as air quality and noise sensors, among other innovations.
“We want the city of Seville to see an ally in us. Our goal is to help the city council, thanks to the information collected by our technology, to become a 15-minute city, in which all the basic needs of citizens are within that radius of action, using multimodal mobility. Together, we will be able to contribute to reducing pollution, noise and promoting a sustainable future in which people and their needs are at the center of urban design”, says Charlotte Serres, General Manager of Voi Tecnhology for France and Spain.
As for Reby, it is a Spanish micro-mobility company, founded in 2018 and based in Barcelona, which designs, manufactures and distributes electric vehicles for shared use (“ride-sharing”) and provides an electric transportation service. shared with the goal of providing affordable and environmentally friendly transportation solutions to people around the world. Its fleet of vehicles is accessible through mobile phones.
“We are very proud to be able to start this 18-month pilot test in Seville, since this award is a recognition of our scooters and our high quality standards. At Reby we think that our vehicles are the best solution on the market for the needs of cities, since they are a sustainable, safe and innovative alternative. We will work together with the City Council to launch a service that is a solution that makes life easier for the citizens of Seville”, says the founder of Reby, Pep Gomez.
First station with a solar energy recharging system in Cartuja
Within these stations, there is one developed through the pilot project by the Solum company that will be available for recharging with an efficient system through solar energy. It is located on Calle Marie Curie, corner of Avenida de los Descubiertas, on a plot that has 7.6 square meters of walkable photovoltaic pavement with a storage system. In total, 12 recharging places for Personal Mobility Vehicles will be tested.
The project consists of the installation of a parking and recharging area for electric scooters with an electricity generation system from photovoltaic cells integrated into a series of passable tiles placed on the existing pavement, which allows not to have a connection to the electricity grid. .
This experience, developed in collaboration with the City Council and the Cartuja Science and Technology Park within the eCitySevilla project, will soon be extended to another area of the city. It is, as highlighted by the Ecological Transition delegate, David Guevara, an “innovation project with a unique system that reflects the city’s commitment and commitment to the development of new solutions for energy efficiency, emission reduction and the fight against climate change.
In this sense, the director of the Science and Technology Park, Luis Perez, highlighted the importance of this type of project: “The PCT Cartuja has emerged as the best testing laboratory in recent years, of projects that have sustainability as a reference and innovation. Proof of this is eCitySevilla, with which we want to write the future of cities from Seville, and in which one of the fundamental pillars is sustainable mobility. This innovative solution developed by the Solum company and the promotion of electric means of transport place PCT Cartuja and Seville at the forefront of this type of mobility”.