Costas Karamanlis – “Green Taxi” program opens

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Costas Karamanlis, spoke about e-mobility as a key pillar of transport development in Greece, at the 5th E-mobility Conference.

The first axis of the planning of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is the renewal of the aging fleet of cars in Greece. At all levels: private cars, taxis, public transport.

Mr. Karamanlis announced in this context that: “Especially for taxis, we are preparing to make a second reinforcement, to start a new program ‘Green Taxis’, which is part of the Recovery Fund and finances the replacement of old polluting Taxis with purely electrical vehicles. And the total subsidy for taxis can exceed 20,000 euros, which is a very, very important subsidy. At the same time, a plan is being put in place for the installation of charging infrastructure in the taxi spots, with priority to those that the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator HEDNO network allows without a significant increase in power. ”

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport reminded that the incentives that have already been given for the purchase or lease of electric cars. and two-wheelers, have brought results: In 2021 6,967 electric cars were registered, while in 2019 they were registered only 480. The market share, from 0.4% in 2019 jumped to almost 7%.

He pointed out that: “Today, according to official EU data, Greece is the country of the EU with the largest rate of change in the electric vehicle market. ”

Mr. Karamanlis underlined the transition to e-mobility and the public transport sector. “The competition for the first 770 of the 1,300 new buses that we have announced and is in progress is fully in line with this goal. The new buses will be of anti-pollution technology, either purely electric, or hybrid and CNG “, he reminded and pointed out that when the new vehicles go on the streets, Athens will be the European city with the largest proportion of electric buses.

1,200 charging points nationwide

The second pillar of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport’s plan for e-mobility – and equally important – is the infrastructure for easy charging. An issue that, as Mr. Karamanlis pointed out, concerns other European countries as well.

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport stated that the 58 publicly accessible charging points that existed nationwide in 2019, grew to 1,200. “That is, within 2 years we have increased the charging points by twenty times”, he noted and pointed out that the agreement reached by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport with the concessionaires of the main highways in our country also contributed to this.

“Today, the main road network of our country has coverage with chargers of 50kW and above, at a density of up to 60km”, stressed Mr. Karamanlis and added: “And of course we do not stop here. Our goal is to have a network in 2025 that will reach 12,000 charging points and in 2030 to have reached 25,000 chargers nationwide. ”

Electronic database and mobile application for chargers

In order to ensure the best possible utilization of the charging network and the maximum convenience of users, the third axis of the plan of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is implemented:

The implementation of the Register of Infrastructures and Electricity Market Bodies which is expected to be fully operational in the coming months.

“The first step is to set up an electronic database with all the necessary information for the network of publicly accessible chargers, such as where they are located, ie their geographical location, availability, cost and method of payment. And the second step is that we will provide each interested party with a special application, so that he can access all this information from his mobile phone at any time and can serve his needs,” explained Mr. Karamanlis.

The fourth pillar of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport’s plan for e-mobility is the modernization of the services provided to users.

Mr. Karamanlis reminded that the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has already proceeded since July 2021 to issue a JMC that provides the terms and conditions for the operation of electric vehicle garages. While the procedures that will determine the required qualifications for the license to practice the profession of electric vehicle technician, as well as the control points of electric vehicles at KTEO are in progress.

At this point, Mr. Karamanlis stressed that these initiatives have a direct impact on the labor market. “Because e-mobility creates a new ecosystem of specialties and specialized technical services we expect to create more and more new jobs, in the next period,” he noted.

Electricity can not be the privilege of the few

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport also stated that the objective reality is that the Government of the New Democracy did not receive anything tangible in the field of electricity.

“Until 2019, such a critical issue did not even exist as an issue on the agenda. Especially the previous government had done absolutely nothing. Despite the fact that it wanted to appear as ‘green’ and environmentally friendly,” he commented.

“On the contrary, today, our Government, the Government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, already implements green policies on a number of issues and we prioritize the so-called” green agenda “very high”, added Mr. Karamanlis.

He also commented that: “On the other hand, perhaps because of this approach of the issue by the previous government, the prevailing perception in our country was more or less that e-mobility is something like an unnecessary luxury. A ‘sport for the few’.”

And Mr. Karamanlis stressed: “So, we answer that if the electric drive until yesterday was really for the few, this is changing and must change. A more environmentally friendly and economical transition cannot be a privilege of the few.

That is why with each passing day, we manage to make e-mobility more and more accessible to many. So that one day, e-mobility in our country will be accessible to everyone. This is our ultimate goal. And I think the first signs are that we will succeed. “