The city of Palermo recently opened southern Italy’s largest public carsharing service.
The Palermo electric carsharing service is part of Amat’s Demetra project, which aims to reduce traffic in the city centre by means of an integrated car-sharing platform. Under the partnership, Enel installed sixteen 22 kW charging stations at strategic points throughout the city. The choice of an electric vehicle contributes to preserving the artistic and cultural Arab-Roman heritage of Palermo, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in July 2015.
The 24 Renault ZOE EVs in the carsharing service will be available in five of the city’s carparks: Piazza Massimo, Piazzale Ungheria, Via Malta, Piazza Ignazio Florio and Viale della Libertà. The service will be extended to three more carparks by the end of 2015.
At the Palermo charging stations it takes just an hour to recharge the Renault ZOE batteries (to 80%). For compatibility with the city’s carsharing system, the Sicilian ZOEs are fitted with smartcard readers.
Electric cars make an excellent choice for carsharing services, and Renault ZOE serves in a number of other carsharing systems across the planet, including Comos in Malaysia, E-car Club in the UK and LetsGo in Denmark.
Renault ZOE is powered by a 65 kW electric motor and boasts a range of 210 km (with the Q210 power unit) or 240 km (with the R240) under the NEDC certification cycle, which represents from 100 to 170 km under typical real-life driving conditions.
