New mobility is being shaped by major trends, such as the application of new smart solutions that lead to its management and optimisation, both in terms of people and goods, and the decarbonisation of the sector, through technologies for electrification and the use of hydrogen as an energy vector, as is evident these days during MOVE 2024 in London, the leading mobility innovation event in Europe.
This year’s event is focuses on technology, innovation and transformation, and the Eurecat technology centre is taking part through the Catalonia d’Acció stand, which brings together total of twelve Catalan organisations in the mobility sector.
Coinciding with MOVE 2024, Eurecat’s business manager for rail, logistics and urban mobility markets, Joan Cardona, points out that “to respond to the challenges of mobility in cities, such as overcrowding, concentration and the need for coexistence, the sector is focused on micro-mobility and transport on demand, and the implementation of new technological platforms, applications and solutions geared towards managing and optimising mobility in cities is growing”.
He goes on to say that “all this new cooperative, connected and smart mobility requires the security and resilience provided by self-assessment and self-protection tools developed under projects like that of the SELFY consortium, coordinated by Eurecat with the aim of enhancing the cybersecurity and resilience of connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM) systems against potential cyber-attacks and malicious actions”.
The head of Business Development of Eurecat’s Mobility team, David Pardos, also notes that “the mobility sector is advancing towards sustainability, committing to decarbonisation with the promotion of electromobility with latest generation batteries and increasing the number of vehicles powered by electric energy, while introducing hydrogen as an energy vector to complete and complement this new sustainable mobility”.
“We need more than one source of energy to move our vehicles and hydrogen is a complementary solution for use cases such as transport vehicles, buses and trucks”, says David Pardos.
In this sense, the electrification value chain is committed to sustainability and the circular economy with innovations focused on improving energy density, efficiency, durability and safety, as well as reducing the costs of electric batteries, as is the case of the projects promoted by the BATTECH platform, led by the Catalonia Energy Research Institute (IREC) and the Eurecat technology centre.
“Hydrogen has also gained a place as an energy vector for new mobility”, adds David Pardos, who stresses that Eurecat is “committed to the decarbonisation of mobility with projects for the generation, transport and storage of hydrogen, such as electrolyzers and fuel cells for vehicles powered by H2”.
“We already have vehicles powered by hydrogen on our streets and roads and, in the coming years, their adoption will be increasingly important and they will coexist with battery powered electric vehicles”, underlines the head of Business Development of Eurecat’s Mobility team.
Other aspects such as supply chain resilience, inclusion through first and last mile connectivity and future mobility trends from an industry perspective are also being discussed during MOVE 2024.
The MOVE 2024 event, which plans to host more than 5,000 professionals and more than 650 speakers from across the mobility ecosystem, features a Start-up Village where entrepreneurs, investors and players in the value chain can get together to discover the latest developments in the sector and to reward the initiatives with the greatest impact potential.
