mySMARTLife Lighthouse City Nantes showcases mobility innovations in study tour
“In Nantes, we strongly believe in cooperation between cities, academics and industrial partners at local and European levels to bring value to our territories. mySMARTLife project is a very good example of collaboration of stakeholders from different countries to think and develop more lively cities for the benefit of all citizens”, stated Andre Sobczak, Vice president of Nantes Metropole in charge of European Affairs, SMEs and Corporate Social Responsibility, City Councillor of Nantes. The study tour of the mySMARTLife consortium and the mySMARTLife Cities’ Network led the team to the technical bus centre Vertou, where the ebusway XXL, one of the major mobility interventions in Nantes, was presented and the charging infrastructure demonstrated. The objective of the ebusway is to replace the 18 m articulated gas powered buses that are currently being used to transport residents throughout the city with 24m bi-articulated electric powered buses with the capacity of transporting 150 passengers. The “opportunity charging technology” presented to the consortium consists of 10 fast charging stations on the route. This technology allows the ebusway XXL to charge in 20 seconds with minimal interruption, while the passengers are on board. “E-mobility in Nantes is not limited to the ebusway XXL buses that are part of the public transport. The mySMARTLife team in Nantes successfully combines different innovative technologies such as autonomous driving (a shuttle without a driver but with a supervisor on board) with energy autonomy (a photovoltaic road that produces as much energy as the shuttle consumes)”, explains Rubén García Pajares, project coordinator of mySMARTLife. The Navya autonomous shuttle is a fully autonomous public transport vehicle with a capacity of 15 people. It is 100% electric and runs on rechargeable batteries. Part of the route of the Navya is the positive energy road, road covering solar panels that as a prototype produce enough energy to compensate for the shuttle’s consumption. The mySMARTLife project aims, as one main pillar, at reducing the CO2 emissions of cities, increasing the use of renewable energy sources and making the demonstration cities more environmentally friendly. The project´s objectives go far beyond the environmental dimension. “Inclusive cities” is the keyword. Inclusive cities offer a high quality of life, where citizens play a vital role in the development of the city. The project develops the concept of “smart people”. At the same time, the mySMARTLife partners focus on the “smart economy” approach – they want to realise an innovative and dynamic economic concept that guarantees employment and adequate income, attracts talents and provides goods and services according to the actual requirements. In addition to these non-technological actions, the activities planned and carried out in the three demonstrator cities include new technological developments in connection with refurbishments of buildings, usage of renewable energies, clean transport and supporting ICT solutions. mySMARTLife is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Under the coordination of CARTIF Technology Centre, 27 partners from 6 countries are collaborating to make sustainable cities with smart people and a smart economy a reality. Activities will take place in the three Lighthouse Cities Nantes, Hamburg and Helsinki. Three Follower Cities – Bydgoszcz (Poland), Rijeka (Croatia) and Palencia (Spain) – will directly learn from the Lighthouse Cities’ experiences. The project was officially launched on 14th December 2016 in Nantes. Further information on mySMARTLife: Website: www.mysmartlife.eu Twitter: @mySMARTLife_eu LinkedIn: mySMARTLife Project Contact: CARTIF Technology Centre Rubén García Pajares (Project Coordinator) rubgar@cartif.es Press contact: Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum Gabi Kaiser kaiser@steinbeis-europa.de
Keywords
smart cities, e-mobility, e-busway, autonomous driving, Navya Autonom Shuttle, positive energy road, renewable energy, reducing CO2 emissions, Nantes, study tour, mySMARTLife