Company offers electric vehicle recharging stations, stimulating the expansion of infrastructure for the growth of sustainable mobility
Charger used in neoenergia's Green Corridor project. Residential and commercial customers can already purchase similar equipment with the company, enabling the recharging of vehicles
The transportation sector, still mostly dependent on fossil fuels, is one of the largest responsible for CO2 emissions in the world. Aligned with its purpose of contributing to the fight against climate change and following the commitment made to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),noddedto ODS 13, Action Against Global Climate Change, Neoenergia believes in sustainable mobility as another way to promote decarbonization. Among its outstanding projects, the company is in the final phase of implementation of the first electrovia in the Northeast, the Green Corridor, connecting six states in the region. Now, expanding the business strategy, it has started offering electric vehicle recharge solutions for residential and business consumers.
The Brazilian Electric Vehicle Association (ABVE) predicts that by the end of 2021, the national market should exceed the mark of 28,000 electrified vehicles, an increase of 42% compared to 2020, which had already been the best year of the historical series, which began in 2012. "To provide the necessary infrastructure for the growth of the use of electric vehicles means to promote sustainable mobility in Brazil, preparing for the future of urban transport. A favorable point of the country is the intensive use of renewable sources, which make up more than 80% of the national electricity matrix and are expanding",says the Director of Liberalized Business of Neoenergia, Hugo Nunes.
The electric mobility service provided by the company is present in eight states – São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte – and in the Federal District and will soon be nationwide. Two models of recharging stations are available, both with type 2 connector, the most widely used on the market. The equipment has Wi-Fi connection and the management of the electric vehicle charging can be done using an application on mobile, as is offered in Europe by Iberdrola, the controlling shareholder of Neoenergia.
Recharging station models with a power of 7.4 kW – similar to an electric shower – are the solution offered for homes. The recharging time of vehicles using this model is six to eight hours, on average, depending on the vehicle. "If consumers have photovoltaic panels at home, they can use this clean energy source to charge the vehicle and have an even more sustainableand economical mobility alternative," hugo points out.
There is also the possibility to purchase the recharging station with power of 22 kW, which can charge vehicles between two and four hours approximately. This is the model offered to companies, such as parking lots and condominiums, and must be installed in three-phase networks.
Today the autonomy of a fully electric vehicle – BEV, acronym for battery electric vehicle – is, on average, up to 400 kilometers. However, with the advance of technologies, the new models already allow traveling more than 400 kilometers. The yield of a combustion engine is around 30% while that of the electric motor is about 90%, depending on the model, in addition to the electric vehicle having less maintenance costs, they can have tax benefits, with reduction of ipva (Property Tax of Motor Vehicles), such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, or even total exemption from the tax, including Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte.
Green Corridor and sustainable mobility projects
The solutions offered by Neoenergia to consumers are part of Iberdrola's Sustainable Mobility Plan to reduce emissions and assist in the development of its areas of operation. In addition to smart mobility, the initiatives include, among other actions, the acquisition of a green fleet for the company, already in use in the five distributors of the company – Neoenergia Coelba (BA), Neoenergia Pernambuco (PE), Neoenergia Cosern (RN), Neoenergia Elektro (SP and MS) and Neoenergia Brasília (DF).
Through its Research and Development (R&D) program, regulated by the National Electric Energy Agency (ANEEL), Neoenergia implemented the Green Corridor,an electrovia with more than 1,100 kilometers of extension between Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte, with 18 recharging points for electric vehicles, twelve of which were fast-charging along highways and six of average cargo in malls located in Salvador, Recife and Natal
The company will start the Green Trail project in the second half of 2021, another R&D initiative aimed at promoting electric mobility. 12 recharging stations will be deployed in strategic locations of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago (PE) and two photovoltaic plants, one with storage system, in addition to the acquisition of 18 electric vehicles. The goal of the initiative is to create sustainable business models for transportation and contribute to the preparation of local entrepreneurs for the future. State law 16,810/20 prohibits the entry of combustion vehicles from August 2022 in Noronha and, from 2030, the circulation of these vehicles powered by gasoline, diesel and ethanol will be banned.
Mobility and global warming
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in a 2019 report, transportation accounts for 24% of direct CO2 emissions from fuel burning and nearly three-quarters of these emissions come from road vehicles – cars, trucks, buses and two- and three-wheel vehicles. A study by Brazilian researchers André Luiz Lopes Toledo and Emílio Lèbre La Rovere, published in the international scientific journal Sustainability, pointed to a similar result: individual motorized transport accounted for 59.43% of greenhouse gas emissions from urban transport in Natal (RN) in 2015.
Because of the contribution of mobility to CO2 emissions, it is necessary to decarbonise the sector, especially after the release of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in August. The study showed human influence on global warming, with global temperature increases above 1.5°C and 2°C and irreversible consequences for the planet if there are no deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.