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Iberdrola has joined forces with Cooltra and Inetum to increase its support for sustainable mobility by charging electric motorbikes. The companies will roll out the service in cities where they operate. The smart charging stations each have capacity to house 20 chargers and multibrand motorbike batteries.

This morning, the three companies officially opened their first pilot charging project at the Inetum headquarters in Madrid. The event was attended by: Francisco de Borja Carabante, the representative from the Environmental and Mobility Department at Madrid City Council; Raquel Blanco, Global Director of Smart Mobility at Iberdrola; Timo Buetefisch, the CEO of COOLTRA; and Francisco Javier Martínez, the director of Energy, Utilities and Industry at Inetum.

The charging stations have been made available to Cooltra, which has a fleet of more than 7,500 shared electric motorbikes throughout Europe, 3,500 of which are in Spain. The project will optimise and automate the fleet charging process because the charging stations will be installed in public spaces such as shopping centres, car parks and mobility hubs – which is the case of the first three stations – close to the areas where the motorbikes will be used.

The first charging stations will be operated entirely by Cooltra, but their design allows them to be used by several operators and electric motorbike users. These smart charging stations will be automated for around-the-clock service seven days a week, ensuring continuous improvement of the service by harnessing the possibilities of big data and artificial intelligence.

"The launch of this initiative is another step forward in our sustainable mobility strategy with electric motorbike-sharing operators and we can see the need to continue innovating with the agents involved to promote zero-emission mobility that contributes to improving air quality in our cities", explained Raquel Blanco, Global Director of Smart Mobility at Iberdrola.

Timo Buetefisch, CEO of Cooltra, said: "This project will allow us to improve the battery exchange process and significantly optimise the operating costs of our motorbike sharing service while improving the customer experience. We can also have the maximum number of bikes available in city centres where demand tends to be highest and the battery exchange process must be streamlined. It will also consolidate our leadership in the sustainable fleet rental business, where we already have a customer portfolio with top firms like Domino's Pizza and Prosegur".

"This project is tailored to the needs proposed by Iberdrola, with suitable hardware design and software development needed to achieve this innovative and intelligent multi-brand battery charging station. We have relied on our more than 20 years of experience developing autonomous equipment and IT solutions to fulfil our commitment to assist our customers in their digitalisation processes", said Francisco Javier Martinez Ovejero, director of Energy, Utilities and Industry at Inetum.

 

Sustainable mobility and the green recovery

Iberdrola continues its commitment to transport electrification in its transition strategy towards a decarbonised economy, as a key way of reducing emissions and pollution and ensuring a green recovery. The company has unveiled a sustainable mobility plan, with an investment of €150 million, which will see it increase its roll-out of electric vehicle charging points over the coming years.

The initiative entails installing around 150,000 charging points in homes, companies and on the public road network in cities, as well as on the main motorways over the coming years. The commitment to deploying high-efficiency charging points will include the company installing ultra-rapid (350 kW) charging points every 200 kilometres, super-rapid points (150 kW) every 100 kilometres, and rapid (50 kW) points every 50 kilometres.

The company has a unique public charging app, which verifies the public charging infrastructure operating in Spain. The information is available in the Public Charging App and so far includes more than 5,000 chargers on public roads for its own and third-party electric vehicles.

To drive electromobility, Iberdrola has already entered into more than 50 agreements to roll out infrastructures with administrations, institutions, companies, service stations, dealerships and almost all electric vehicle manufacturers. Iberdrola is the market leader in charging solutions for fleets of vehicles, companies and private individuals, as well as detached homes and residents' associations car parks, where Iberdrola customers can charge their vehicles with 100% green energy guaranteed to come from clean generation sources.