Toyota Spain is lending Gamesa a plug-in hybrid vehicle for a six-month period so it can test and verify the car's technology, identify potential limiting factors and analyse its charging requirements in order to facilitate the mass market rollout of vehicles of this nature in Spain in the near term.
In a departure, Gamesa will test drive the Prius Plug In in an urban environment as well as at a wind farm.
During the pilot period, Gamesa will share the data compiled during the vehicle's test drives regarding the car's technology and energy saving performance with Toyota Spain in order to furnish information for the Movele initiative, coordinated by the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and savings (IDAE), of which Toyota is a member. This initiative is working on demonstrating the technical, energy and financial viability of this class of cars.
"These energy efficient cars with their reduced carbon footprints can and must contribute short and medium term to the energy saving and environmental protection imperative and to verifying the enormous synergies between wind energy and green mobility", said David Mesonero, Gamesa's Director of Corporate Development.
"Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle technology improves fuel efficiency and reduces harmful emissions, including carbon dioxide and those with an impact on air quality in our cities. The new Prius Plug-in Hybrid combines the benefits of an electric vehicle for short journeys -with zero emissions and zero fuel consumption- and the unlimited driving range of a hybrid vehicle with a petrol engine," according to Jacques Pieraerts, President & CEO of Toyota Spain.
Commitment to technological diversification as the way towards green mobility
Gamesa is committed to ‘green' mobility under the umbrella of its technology diversification strategy.
The company is working on developing charging stations for electric vehicles. Manufacture of these stations at Gamesa Electric's electric components factory in Valencia got underway this year. In fact charging stations are already in place in Valencia and at the head office in Madrid. Moreover, the company has already signed a charging station supply and marketing agreement with Iberdrola and is currently holding talks with other sector heavyweights.
Through Gamesa Venture Capital, the company has an interest in Spanish high-tech start-up N2S, a specialist provider of smart energy management services. N2S has developed a real-time smart management platform for electric vehicle charging infrastructure which is marketed under the trade name POWER2DRIVE. This system can accommodate and integrate all charging station makers in the market.
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