One of today’s most interesting bits of green technology news also highlights some of the economic relationships that are prominent within the European Union.
News is breaking that Volkswagen will deploy various parts of a six-year pilot program for providing transport on a small Greek island called Astypalea.
A memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday involves Volkswagen’s travel accommodations for the 1300 residents of Astypalea, which involves changing over about 1500 combustion engine vehicles to electronic vehicles.
The goal, leaders say, is to become carbon neutral within a given number of years.
The current program also corresponds with Volkswagen’s unveiling of a charger made by its subsidiary Elli.
“VW is launching today its ID home charging station and will be offering installation ahead of ID.3 deliveries set for later this year, but in their announcement, they also said that they will soon have a “complete charging network around the ID.3.,” wrote Fred Lambert at Electrek in June, describing this type of technology. “Volkswagen announced today that it started selling its level 2 charging solution called ‘ID. Charger’, which they first unveiled last year.”
The new types of chargers will make new EV rollouts more convenient.
“In the past, buying a wallbox was often a tiresome and long-winded exercise for customers,” said Elli Key Account Manager Peter Diekmann. “We want to change that and are offering a single-source solution for the ID. Charger – from purchase and installation through to commissioning.”
As green programs go, VW’s initiative on the Greek island seems in keeping with some of the best technology advances of the past few years.
As an international collaboration, it remains to be seen how this program works out, and how it spurs similar developments around the world. For instance, we can see some of the most forward-thinking gulf states in the MENA region rolling out self-driving green buses to get people from point A to point B in much higher populations than Volkswagen is serving in Astypalea.
The bottom line is that your portfolio should contemplate green transport and green energy, because things in this sector are changing quickly.