Barcelona

Barcelona is the capital city of the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain and the country's 2nd largest city. The city and its Metropolitan Area are an urbanistically compact territory with a high population density. Barcelona city has a population of 1.615.448, but its metropolitan region (RMB) counts 4.777.042 people, being the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan.  It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besos, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range.

Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair/exhibitions and cultural-sports centers, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities.

The city is also a transport hub with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles above 35 million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network and a high-speed rail line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.

The city generates 7.833.495 trips/day, 64% are internal (BCN-BCN) and 36% connection trips (BCN-RMB). It therefore faces important challenges in the sphere of mobility and transport, such as finding a sustainable, non-polluting model of mobility.

Although e-mobility has a very small weight in Barcelona vehicle fleet, the Catalan capital government has already taken the first steps towards the gradual introduction of electric vehicles, both in public transport and for private use, in order to make these vehicles a more widespread and everyday technology.

The Barcelona City Council spearheaded the creation of LIVE: Logistics for the implementation of Electric Vehicles in 2009. This public-private platform promotes the e-mobility sector and encourages the use of EV (Electric Vehicle) in the city. LIVE coordinates the e-mobility plans of various levels of government and also disseminates information and raises awareness among companies. It works to promote the creation of new companies and business models related to EV, associated services and the infrastructure needed to make this possible.

The fact that local authorities in our cities clearly work to promote the use of e-vehicles is key to the development of the sector and to continue exploring the market in search of the most innovative and efficient products (electric propulsion) being developed by the industry.

As a result of all the policies and practices promoted by the LIVE platform, Barcelona has become the leading city in the world in implementing a flexible sharing system with 100% e-motorbikes that can be used by both residents and visitors, called MOTIT.

The partnership of the Catalan city with Ele.C.Tra project represents a new impulse which has to contribute, by working together with local authorities and the rest of stakeholders, to boost these innovative electric transport initiatives at local and European level in order to improve citizens' life quality, strengthen the economy, and meet the regulatory parameters for environmental issues. Ele.C.Tra means an excellent opportunity to solve the problems and negative impacts on urban life quality associated to the city’s current mobility model and mainly caused by motorized traffic and congestion.

This can only be reached by promoting sustainable urban mobility and increasing the use of clean and energy efficient vehicles.