Milan-Turin, 30 July 2021 — Following its official unveiling last Friday by NHOA, the Atlante Project has immediately become a headliner. Indeed, the Piedmont Region will be the starting point in Italy in the construction of the new fastcharging network for electric vehicles in Southern Europe.
Initial exploratory assessments are already underway, with the Piedmont Region Department of Education, Employment, Vocational Training and Right to University Study due to evaluate the feasibility of collaboration on this innovative project, which provides for the development of the first fastcharging network 100% vehicle-to-grid integrated (VGI) enabled by renewables and storage.
The Atlante Project responds to the provisions of the Fit for 55 package — adopted by the European Commission in mid-July. Its aims include achieving 100% zero-emissions cars registered as of 2035 and installing charging and fuelling points at regular intervals on major highways: every 60 kilometres for electric charging and every 150 kilometres for hydrogen refuelling.
As explained at the Press Conference, held on 23 July, by Carlalberto Guglielminotti (CEO, NHOA Group) and Roberto Di Stefano (CEO, Free2Move eSolutions), the project will be initially developed in Southern Europe, as an open network, and at the same time, the preferred fastcharging network of Stellantis and its customers.
NHOA will develop and invest in the Atlante project as owner and operator, while Free2Move eSolutions will act as turn-key technology provider.
“Being the starting point of the Atlante project for Italy is an excellent news for our Region which fills us with pride, also due to the fact that this project comes from what once was a Turin start-up – declared the President of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio and the Councilor for Labor Elena Chiorino -. It is essential to be ready and we are, because there will be no long-lasting restart for the economic system, without a shared vision between business and politics. A certainty from which our policies supporting the employment arise, integrated with a training offer in line with the new skills required by the market and virtuous forms of collaboration such as this one. In a time marked by a strong push towards green and technology transition, institutions must take an active part. We, the Piedmont Region, are glad to be part of this project which defines an important path for employment, technological innovation, research and development”.
“The aim of the Atlante project is to develop a large fastcharging network in Europe, but also to integrate storage systems and a technology that could stabilise national electrical grids, boosting the integration of renewables and the role of Italy as leader of the energy transition”, explained Carlalberto Guglielminotti, CEO of NHOA Group. “We are proud to start from the Piedmont Region to bring innovation and sustainability to the place where it all began for us in 2005 — as a spin-off of the Politecnico di Torino”.
“Fastcharging installations in Southern Europe”, stated Roberto Di Stefano, CEO of Free2Move eSolutions, “are a great growth opportunity as almost all of the ‘on-the-go’ fastcharging network has yet to be deployed and that represents a great chance for development, especially in a region as central for Europe as Piedmont”.
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