‘Sharing gets you further’. This was the slogan chosen to celebrate European Mobility Week 2017 (EMS) that took place all over Europe from 16 – 22 September (in Madrid, the Town Hall extended its activities until 24 September).
Mobility Week should be seen as a springboard to promote a great leap towards the future. A reminder of how much we have progressed over these months, and also how much remains to be done.
The mobility of the future
All experts agree that if there is a sector that will evolve over the coming years, it will be the transport sector. The three main trends will be:
- More options: There will be a much broader range of types of transport (private car, shared car, bicycle, public transport, etc.).
- Sharing to optimise (and save): New information technologies have put possibilities within our reach which, ten years ago, would have seemed like a dream. The fleets of shared cars that can be seen in cities such as Madrid are just the first step towards what awaits us.
- More kinds of fuel that are cleaner and cheaper.
At Enagás we have been working towards this mobility of the future via our Sustainable Mobility Plan. Here are some of the initiatives we are carrying out to improve our daily commutes and reduce the impact they have on the environment and those around us:
- The launch of a plan for employees through which the company subsidizes the purchase of new natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and provides loan guarantees.
- The purchase of NGVs for the company fleet of maintenance and executive vehicles.
- Acquisition of the AEGFA and IDAE Green Fleet certification , which recognizes that the Enagás fleet meets strict environmental respect and sustainability standards, having obtained the Master-level certification , which is the most stringent.
- The installation of filling stations for NGVs at company facilities, such as the pilot programme at the Paterna facility, to supply natural gas to the vehicles that make up the Enagás fleet.
- The company is also working on the launch of a car-sharing initiative at the company head office that will allow employees to share their vehicles for their daily commute.
These measures contribute to a more sustainable kind of transport, although there is still a long road ahead. According to figures provided by Eurostat, dependence on oil and its derivatives in the EU transport sector is still at 93.6%. The remainder is divided between renewable sources, electricity and gas. This figure is an improvement over the 97.9% dependence of 1990, but much remains to be done.
Surveys on sustainable transport in the EU carried out among consumers confirm that the two mains reasons why these alternative technologies are not more common are cost and the lack of filling stations. In the case of NGVs, the technology is fully competitive, offering savings of around 30% per kilometre compared to diesel and 50% compared to petrol. In terms of autonomy, vehicles that run on natural gas are hybrids that use CNG/LNG and petrol. In this way, if all the natural gas is consumed, the vehicle can continue to run on petrol.
Almost a year after MW-2018, we must support public and private initiatives that allow us all (citizens, companies, organizations and public institutions) to coordinate our best efforts to accelerate the incorporation of these means of transport for the future. It is vital to realize its potential to the fullest.