The electric vehicle is becoming more and more common on our streets and highways, but it is still advancing in fits and starts in the Administration. EL PAÍS has compiled data from a dozen public entities (four state-owned and six large municipalities) that total almost 60,000 vehicles (56,916) and the result is that only 9% of the fleet is electrified (5,100). There are positive examples, such as the Barcelona City Council (with 34.8% electric, excluding buses), and others that are moving more slowly, such as the National Police and the Civil Guard (where vehicles without emissions do not exceed 2, 1% and 1.3% of the total, respectively). Next Generation European funds have driven a 756% growth in battery-powered buses – many intended for municipal public transport – and the arrival of clean cars and vans, but other models are still far from what was expected. Experts ask that the public sector serve as an example to achieve zero-emission mobility as soon as possible.
“The State and the European Commission have created many regulations to favor electric vehicles, such as the obligation to include zero-emission vehicles in public fleets or the installation of charging points for every 20 or 40 parking spaces. parking in public buildings, but the Administration needs to comply with its own regulations,” says May López, author of the report. Electric Mobility in Spain, published in September. “For example, Spanish law requires the installation in 151 Spanish municipalities of low-emission zones, which favor this type of mobility, but for now only 20 localities have implemented them.” “In addition,” he continues, “the public procurement directive requires that, when new vehicles are tendered, 36% of cars, 10% of trucks and 45% of buses of the Administrations be low emissions (electric and certain hybrids). ) and it is not always like that.”
According to EL PAÍS, the State security forces and bodies have the lowest level of electrification. The National Police has 8,050 cars, 2,435 motorcycles and another 4,391 vehicles (mainly vans), of which only 320 in total are electric, that is, 2.15%. “We are trying to provide the fleet with zero-emission vehicles, but total electrification is complicated, since the diversity of our services demands vehicles of different types and not all of them fit with the current offer of electrified vehicles,” says a police spokesperson. In any case, the body is already processing the purchase of 2,500 zero-label vehicles charged to Next Generation European funds. In addition, they have 600 charging points and have put out to tender another 800.
In the Civil Guard, the figure is even lower: of the 16,442 cars and motorcycles they own, only 214 are zero emissions (1.3%), although they have 1,276 hybrids (they do not specify whether plug-in or not). In this case, the lack of electric stations in rural areas, where they mostly carry out their work, continues to be problematic. The armed institute has 300 charging points, to which it plans to add 1,600 in the coming months.
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“The administrations are the ones with the greatest economic capacity, so they have to pull the shopping cart. The Police and Civil Guard should already have most of their fleets electrified. Furthermore, that would be a very positive example for society, which would see more electric cars on the streets,” summarizes Ladislao Montiel, an expert in the sector at the Renovables Foundation. “One of the main problems is the lack of charging points: in Spain there are about 20,000, compared to 29,000 in France and 41,000 in Germany,” he continues.
The public company Mail, on the other hand, has already electrified 16.8% of its fleet of cars, motorcycles and vans: it has 14,000, of which 2,351 are already emission-free, to which it plans to add another 500 before the end of the year. Each vehicle has its own charging point. “Our commitment is to have 25% of our fleet electrified by 2030,” says a spokesperson. Meanwhile, the State Mobile Park, which provides mobility services to senior public officials, has undergone a transformation in just five years: if in 2018 it did not have any electric vehicles, now 183 of its 673 vehicles are so (27%). “Our goal is to achieve electric mobility in 2026, although there are special vehicles (such as armored vehicles) where it is not yet technologically possible,” says a spokesperson.
In fact, Even the Army is buying some zero emissions: Last month it acquired 530 electric vans, five forklifts and one passenger car, in addition to another 513 plug-in hybrids. They are a small percentage of its logistics vehicles, since the technology does not yet offer plug-in versions for operational vehicles (such as armored vehicles or tanks). Civil Guard and Defense will acquire some 800 vehicles with European funds over the coming months, according to a spokeswoman for the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE) of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
European Next Generation funds are driving these purchases. The Ministry of Transport, which has managed the aid, points out that it has granted almost 300 million – in two calls – for the acquisition of buses for public transport fleets and heavy vehicles for municipal public services powered by alternative energies. Added to them are those of the plan Moves III from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, which has distributed 9.5 million among the 2,600 requests from local entities, to which must be added those distributed by the communities (yet to be determined).
Buses run through the sector
Buses are precisely the sector that is growing the most: during the first half of 2023, registrations in Spain of electrically charged buses (electric plus plug-in hybrids) grew by 760% compared to the same period of the previous year, making it the European market with the largest growth, according to the Electric Mobility in Spain report. In this sense, large town councils are key, since they provide municipal bus services, as well as garbage collection, parks and gardens and others (sometimes, with subcontractors that are not included in the count).
The Madrid council has 2,513 vehicles, 335 of which are electric, to which should be added 2,142 buses, of which 245 are zero emissions: in total, 12.5% electrification. Barcelona is the most advanced municipal government: of its 3,484 vehicles, it has already electrified 1,213 (34.8%). This figure does not include buses, which depend on the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (in April they were close to 7% electrification). “The Catalan City Council has purchased 79 100% electric waste trucks and it is a very positive example, because trucks are precisely the sector where electrification is costing the most,” says May López, who is also a spokesperson for Companies for Sustainable Mobility.
Meanwhile, Valencia has 590 vehicles, of which 11.2% (that is, 66) are zero emissions. In Seville, where EL PAÍS has only obtained data on municipal buses, there are 420 units, with an electrification of 4.3% (18 units). In Zaragoza the vehicles (which include some subcontractors) reach 946, of which 112 are electric (11.8%). Finally, Malaga has 825 vehicles and only 5.2% are electric (43). They all expect to acquire more vehicles of this type thanks to European funds.
An interesting case is that of the municipalities of Gijón (Asturias) and Torrelavega (Cantabria), which have acquired zero-emission cars through the company Guppy that serve both their officials and citizens. “During working hours, the City Council has some vehicles blocked so that its staff can travel. Once their day ends, the vehicles are available to any user,” reports a company spokesperson. It is a way for medium or small cities to have an electric car sharing service, which normally only works in large cities.
EL PAÍS has asked the four most populated communities in Spain, but only the Community of Madrid has responded, pointing out that it has a fleet of 450 official vehicles of which 397 are hybrids, but none are 100% electric. “It is planned that in the next vehicle rental tender, in 2024, fully electric vehicles can be purchased,” says a spokeswoman. Catalonia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community have not responded to this newspaper’s request for information.
Much remains to be done. Arturo Pérez de Lucia, president of the Aedive employers’ association – which brings together more than 200 companies from Spain and Portugal – summarizes: “Public administrations must be the first to set an example for the rest of the citizens and the business sector in the transformation of mobility towards electric vehicles, and, with some exceptions, this commitment is not widely perceived.” May López also highlights “the driving power that the public sector exercises through the contracting of mobility services”, which is why she asks for a boost to these purchases.
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