UITP Summit 2019, Enel X wins with its Santiago e-buses

Just six months ago, a real revolution in public transport took place in Santiago in Chile. An all-electric revolution that came courtesy of Enel X and Metbus, which saw 100 electric buses added to the Metropolitan Region’s fleet. Metbus’s 516 Line, which currently has 103 zero emissions buses serving the citizens of the Chilean capital, is now a shining example of sustainable mobility best practice.

The UITP Awards

The project, which was launched in December 2018, took first place in the “Smart Funding, Financing & Business Models” category at the UITP Awards Ceremony held on June 12 during the Global Public Transport Summit. A further 208 vehicles are in the pipeline and will also be incorporated into the city fleet. 183 of them will once again be the product of the partnership between Metbus and Enel X, while 25 will come from a partnership with Redbus. Santiago’s electric fleet is the first and largest of its kind not only in Chile but in all of Latin America. On a world level, there is only one which is larger, and that is in China.

The Award, which was presented by the Union Internationale des Transports Publics (UITP), underscores Enel X’s commitment to fostering not just a new culture that will encourage citizens to embrace green and sustainable alternatives, but also the creation of new business models that generate shared values and well-being. Indeed Enel X is currently the leading e-mobility player on the Chilean market. 

Colombia to get an e-bus fleet in 2020

But Santiago is not the only shining example of Latin America’s very clearly eco-friendly position at the front line in the fight against pollution through a whole host of extremely valuable environmental projects. The “electric revolution” has also reached Colombia, thanks to Enel X in the form of an 18-metre long bus running on the streets of Bogotá. In the space of just 262 days, that vehicle alone allowed the Colombian city to spare the planet 85 tonnes of polluting emissions. The aim of the project was to promote e-mobility through collaborations between local administrations, state companies and the main transport unions. The mission was accomplished so successfully that a fleet of 594 e-buses will transform public transport in the capital in 2020 to the extent that it will break the Latin American record currently held by Santiago in Chile. Enel X will be putting in the infrastructure and the charging points that will enable the near-600 electric buses to “fill up.”

There is also another Enel X e-mobility project up and running in Colombia, this time for taxis: no fewer than 37 zero emissions e-vehicles can charge at 34 different charging points in four different localities. As it is powered by electricity, the eco-fleet prevents more than 3,000 tonnes of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere. But that is not the end of the story as Colombia is also home to Cabify, a car-sharing service that has incorporated six e-cars and four rapid charging points into its fleet.

A pilot project in Peru

Chile and Colombia are not the only countries that are “filling up on green energy.” Electric buses are also coming to Peru, thanks to an agreement signed by the Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership (GSEP), of which both Enel and Hydro-Québec are members, and the Ministries for Energy and Mining, the Ministry for the Environment, and the Ministry for Transport and Communications to integrate a new e-bus into the Javier Prado-Fáucett public transport route. The project, which is currently in the pilot stage, will be managed by the operator Protransporte and will run for two years starting from the second half of 2019 on the streets of Lima. Thanks to the Viricity system, real-time data on factors such as speed, capacity, battery behaviour and environmental impact will be tracked with the aim of drawing up guidelines to help facilitate the introduction of a massive country-wide electric transport system. Lima’s first electric bus was co-financed by Enel X and has a range of 350 km and a passenger capacity in excess of 80 for each trip. It will be officially launched next July in time for the Pan American Games.

V2G: turning cars into four-wheeled grid backups

Enel was also the first company to export innovative “Vehicle-to-Grid” technology to Latin America. It has installed a bi-directional charging station in Brazil that allows energy consumption to be optimised, the use of "Peak Shaving", and price and power reserve monitoring. In Chile, on the other hand, it has installed the first working charging point with a 3 kW photovoltaic unit and a Nissan LEAF e-car. V2G guarantees extra functionalities, particularly at fleet level, which allow users to manage the energy available: it can be redistributed to the grid, thereby guaranteeing a flexible backup to keep the latter stable.

e-Mobility at home

Enel X’s e-Mobility projects are not confined merely to new transportation solutions but are also aimed at creating a whole Sustainable Urban Development paradigm. This is why Enel X’s in-house innovation solutions line is also involved in real estate market projects such as “Green Parking” and “Ready-To”, which offer Chilean property development companies the opportunity to include e-vehicle charging facilities at the design stage when planning new buildings. And, talking of Chile and the Smart Cities front, the “Paraderos Tecnológicos” project offers security camera, wi-fi, USB battery charging and a real-time information service installation to help make urban infrastructure smarter and more functional. 

Green, sustainable e-mobility is now running right across the South American continent thanks to Enel X’s smart power.