The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Policy News

The first of 130 charging terminals has been successfully installed in the Polish capital, Warsaw. The EU funded research project between German energy company RWE, the Polish group Green Stream Polska and the City of Warsaw hopes to have the charging network fully operational by June 2010.

The Poland wide project seeks to develop a functional and user-friendly system that would effectively fuel electric mobility. The project will take place in five Polish cities between the beginning of 2010 and June 2011. Overall, Green Stream Polsk has been charged with erecting 330 terminals in Gdansk, Katowice, Krakow, Warsaw and Mielec. The epicentre of the project will, however, be in Warsaw which will receive 130 terminals where a scientific team will use five electric test vehicles to conduct the study.

The project is a ‘show case collaboration’ between the private sector, the local authorities and the EU. Energy company RWE has provided the know-how towards using renewable energy sources to charge the vehicles. RWE will also provide technical support to Green Stream Polska, which has been awarded a contract to design and build the 330 terminals and provide the twenty test vehicles Poland wide (14 of which will be newly manufactured EVs, while six will be converted combustion vehicles).

Promoting environment-friendly means of transport

Experts note how electric cars are less expensive to run than combustion-powered vehicles. In Poland, it costs around PLN 3 (EUR 0.73) to drive an electric vehicle for 100 kilometres, while the cost jumps up to PLN 40 (EUR 9.70) for a conventional car. There are also the well known environmental and performance factors that are taken into account. Performance of existing electric vehicles is strong when compared to the performance of conventional vehicles. Notwithstanding this, they are friendlier to the environment. Noise pollution is nearly non-existent and they do not damage the atmosphere as much.

The project has received full support from the City of Warsaw. Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz reiterated her concern for the impacts that combustion engines have for public health and the global environment stating that: 'We are aware that transportation is one of the primary threats to the climate” and that “we gladly join initiatives promoting environment-friendly means of transport”. She added that she was happy that ‘Warsaw is the first city in Poland to join the European leaders, Paris, London or Berlin, where similar charging points are available to their residents’.