AIC helps launch Europe´s first Inter-Urban Line covered by Electric Vehicles

AIC helps launch Europe´s first Inter-Urban Line covered by Electric Vehicles

Biscay Provincial Council, Iberdrola and AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center cooperate on bid to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 15 tons | 18/03/2011

Bilbao, 18.3.2011--- As part of its ongoing bid to encourage and promote vehicle electrification, AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center has contributed to the launch of the first European inter-urban transport line covered by electric vehicles.

The 9-seater Peugeot can take people with reduced mobility or in wheelchairs. With a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour, it is capable of negotiating slopes of up to 15% and has an autonomous range of 130 kilometers before recharging. Full battery recharge time on a three-phase socket is 6 hours. Once in use, the technology should prevent 15 tons of CO2 a year being emitted into the atmosphere.

Running a vehicle of this kind on an existing regular inter-urban bus line is one of first results of a cooperation agreement signed just over a year ago between Biscay Provincial Council, Spanish power giant Iberdrola and AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center. All three parties to the agreement specifically committed themselves to developing and promoting electric vehicles in the province of Biscay.

In broader terms, the agreement is designed to promote sustainable mobility, research, innovation and improvements in local business competitiveness and productivity, all of which is expected to have beneficial effects on current and future employment levels.

AIC is a foundation promoted and backed by Biscay Provincial Council, Amorebieta-Etxano and Ermua city halls, a group of leading edge firms from the automotive industry and Basque automotive cluster ACICAE. AIC integrates knowledge, technology and industrial development under one umbrella in a bid to improve competitiveness in the industry.