Hi everybody,

Last Tuesday, the Your Formula team was at EU Energy week, and the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2012 took place. Five projects were selected as a significant and proven contribution to the EU 2020 objectives with regard to energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.

A lot of fresh ideas were presented, and the jury had the difficult task of choosing the awarded projects. Unfortunately, they couldn’t all win so we have decided to present a few projects from among those nominated.

Today, we would like to highlight the project Move, from Move Mile.

This company builds Autonomous Electric Vehicles (no driver, fully automated and controlled by computer) for personal and group “last mile” transportation.
The project, called “Move”, is an electric vehicle built with leading- edge technology, designed to be easily used for small trips at low speed in urban or private environments, to complement regular public and private transport.

This driverless solution is also silent and zero emission, therefore contributing to a healthier quality of life. It can use solar energy, being activated only when called to service (demand response), avoiding an unnecessary waste of energy.

Your formula has interviewed Paulo Janeiro, President of Move Mile, to give you more information about this project and talk about the importance of sustainability in mobility.

In your opinion, is mobility key to meeting the EU´s energy and climate goals?
Yes it is. People travel more and more all the time. And they tend to concentrate on specific areas, making new mobility systems an imperative to stop air pollution. Take the case of London, where you have huge air pollution problems. If you think in terms of land mobility alone, some big challenges arise when it comes to making it green and better. Up to now, green has not been synonymous with better. Take the example of electric cars.

The European country with the most electric cars in use per capita is Norway. And the reason is that when driving an electric car you can use the BUS lanes, making it much faster to get to your destination and avoid traffic. But this incentive is at the same time a barrier to the further growth of electric car use, as the more electric cars use the BUS lanes, the more traffic jams you get there, the less advantage you have from using an electric car. So finding new sustainable models for mobility is still a challenge but a must.

How important is this nomination to Move Mile?
This nomination represents an independent and solid validation that our vision is working and is going to make a difference in the future. It is not just an award; it’s about being one of the best at European level. And it’s also something that makes us all very proud, as we are working in a company that can make a real difference by improving the world in which we live.

How do you think this project, Move, can contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle?
Move Mile is promoting a new approach towards sustainable mobility – a new product category. We call it an “horizontal elevator” for the “last mile”. The cars have no driver, are completely autonomous and – because only electric engines are used – they operate very quietly and without generating pollutants at the point of operation (zero emissions).

Autonomous vehicles are driverless vehicles that can provide point-to-point and on-demand transportation services, carrying 10-12 passengers and running in dedicated lanes or on segregated guideways. They can be operated in fleets to optimise transport services. They can also be used in a more traditional way as automated shuttles.

This new approach of shared public transport can be applied to all private sites open to the public, and to transportation over short distances (a few kilometres) in indoor or outdoor environments.

This also proves that “electric mobility” and “comfort, economically viable and small investment” can exist together. With no concessions, it means you can have it all, don’t need to choose anymore which option you have to drop.

Our solution involves three automated transportation applications – one is the “taxi-type” (individual on-demand transportation); another is the “shuttle-type” (pre-programmed multi-person transportation); the other one is a combination of both. These modes of transportation are appropriate for all types of delimited sites receiving a high density of persons needing to travel relatively short distances (i.e., up to several kilometres) either inside or outside their perimeter. Among the examples are:

- City-centre pedestrian and semi-pedestrian zones;
– Industrial or academic sites, including factories, business or academic campuses, technology parks, research centres, laboratories, etc;
– Public parks such as amusement parks, vacation complexes, theme and cultural parks, historic sites, archaeological sites, museums, etc;
– Airports and train/bus stations for their internal terminal connections as well as connections to car parks, city centres, etc;
– Health care sites, including hospitals, retirement communities, rest homes, convalescent centres;
– Shopping centres.

How do chemistry and science contribute to the Move Mile products and more particularly to Move?

Science is fundamental. Chemistry is central too. Being an electric solution, we are heavily dependent on batteries and energy storage systems, which are one of the main limitations today to the widespread use of electric vehicles. It’s not only about making the batteries more powerful per Kg but making them safer and cheaper too.
Batteries involve chemical processes, so at this moment different scientific approaches are being tested. Fundamental and applied research is being used in new solutions, such as lithium-air batteries, for instance. And in supercapacitors, where a new name was created for something new called supercabatteries, that represents a step up from traditional batteries and ultracapacitors. The ones that win this race are going to change mobility for good.

Inspiring! Don´t you think?!
Ufff. As I predicted, this has turned out to be a very busy week! So many things going on!
Last Tuesday, the Your Formula team also visited the first passive house in Brussels, at la rue de la Brasserie. As promised, I was there and during the whole afternoon, I was twitting, taking pictures and giving you some impressions about these houses.

Nuno Bacharel,
Your Formula

http://www.yourformula.eu/internalposts/eu-energy-week-2012-let%C2%B4s-move-sustainable/

Eighty businessmen, from both countries, accepted the invitation from the ambassador Paul Schmit – who transmitted on his speech a very positive perspective of Portugal – to share experiences and networking during two days.

Francisco Balsemão, President of ANJE (Portuguese National Association of Young Businessmen), Teresa Cruz and Tristão Bacelar were some of the businessmen who accepted the invitation.

If you wish to know more you may also read the article Journal Contacto:

http://semanariocontacto.blogspot.pt/2012/05/empresarios-luxemburgueses-e.html

From a total of 262 submitted projects for the SEE Awards 2012, 25 initiatives have been shortlisted and are now in the final running for an Award in one of the following five categories: Communicating, Consuming, Learning, Living and Travelling.

Finalist projects come from 14 different EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom), in addition to a number of projects managed by pan-European partnerships.

The list of the 2012 SEE Awards finalists is available here.

Winners will be made public at a prestigious Award Ceremony which will take place in Brussels on 19 June 2012 in the framework of the European Union Sustainable Energy Week 2012.You will receive an invitation at a later stage.

Follow the organization of the European Union Sustainable Energy Week 2012 here.

We will keep you informed!

The World Electric Vehicles Summit is the Leading Meeting Place for Stakeholders Representing Battery Electric Vehicles, Electric Fleets and EV Charging Infrastructure.

International experts will share knowledge on high level strategic planning, technical advances and the latest on opportunities for growth with many sectors, among which electrical vehicles.
On 14th June, after the main conference, there will be EV Charging Infrastructure Symposium – an entire day of sessions that together explore new and emerging opportunities in this sector of the EV industry within the context of today’s commercial, strategic and technical challenges relating to the successful mass market deployment of charging infrastructure.

For more information visit:
http://www.informaglobalevents.com/event/ElectricVehicles

Participated in this conference about 142 people, 22 invited experts and 46 companies, partner organizations, supporters and exhibiting about Urban City Mobility. This Conference had the purpose to inform and discuss all the strategies and solutions for an efficient mobility management for the mobility future in Portugal with experts, companies and political decision makers from all over the world.

During this conference, Professor Bruno Santos invited professor from DEC (Civil Engineering Department of Coimbra University), presented an essay about Urban Mobility with the title: “The autonomous electric vehicle in the collective public transport” where Movemile Company and its mobility solution were presented. The purpose of this paper, among others, was to show the impact of Movemile vehicle in the urban transport system.
In the exhibition space where companies and their solutions for urban mobility were shown, Movemile also presented a promotional film, showing its application in a real environment (at Hospital Rovisco Pais) where it is used by real people.

There was also a network lunch with thematic tables to enable all the participants gathered in each table to exchange ideas and thoughts about the subject of the conference.

The European Energy Venture Fair is organized by the Energy Venture Forum, a Swiss non-profit association established in 2007. The founding members of the Forum are Emerald Technology Ventures AG and BI Technology A/S. The goals of this event are to strengthen relationships, learn more about new technologies, hear from experts in the business and meet up-and-coming companies looking for investors.

For more information on this event, please consult: www.europeanenergyventurefair.com