Heavy road transport is one of the sectors with the greatest electrification potential in an alternative that will allow reduce emissions and operating costs for an activity that moves practically all the goods we receive every day. The great challenge is to have the vehicles, and also the adequate infrastructure. Something in which an important step has been taken today with the announcement by Iberdrola and Disfrimur of the start-up of the first electrification project of the Mediterranean corridor for the transport of goods by road.
This project will lay the foundations for new initiatives and will accelerate the decarbonization of a sector that is strategic for the national economy since it 96% of the merchandise transported in Spain is by road and is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in its area.
Both companies have inaugurated specific charging points for trucks at the Disfrimur logistics bases located in Sangonera la Seca (Murcia) and San Isidro (Alicante) next to the A-7, which in the first phase have two magazines for 180 kW of power each.
The charging points will be for public use, so they will also be available for electric trucks and vans from other companies, as well as for light vehicles.
The second phase of the project, planned for 2024, will allow an MCS (Megawatt Charging System) charger to be added to each of the bases. A format that reaches 1,200 kW of power, which will allow the charging of trucks with battery packs of more than 600 kWh in about 30 minutestime similar to the mandatory rest stops.
At the moment, Iberdrola and Ingeteam are developing the first commercial charger with this technology that will allow such high charging speeds, essential for the electrification of long-distance freight transport, or to provide freight distribution services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week .
These facilities that have just been put into operation are added to the ultra-fast charging station that Iberdrola has in Elche, the charging hub for electric vehicles with the highest power in Southern Europe, which also has specific parking spaces for trucks in the kilometer 25 of the A-70 motorway in both directions, with powers of 400 kW and 200 kWTherefore, the company already provides service for a section of approximately 100 kilometers.
Thus, the first milestones for the creation of the Mediterranean corridor for 100% electric road transport, which will run through the Region of Murcia and C. Valenciana, and which will enable the circulation of heavy vehicles between Puerto Lumbreras and Vinarosmore than 450 kilometers of emission-free freight transport routes and with the aim of extending the project to the rest of the country’s corridors in the coming years.
A small but important step that will put electrical technology in the mouths of an industry that is the great beneficiary of its characteristics, and that, as has happened with cars, will need some pioneers to pave the way for costs to drop and be more easy to acquire by small and medium-sized companies.
