Bari Smart City. First Enel charging station arrives, vehicles bid smog farwell

Today, the first public charging station for electric vehicles in Bari and in all of southern Italy was inaugurated. The new station was installed in the Murat district, on the centrally located Corso Cavour near the historic Petruzzelli theatre. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Michele Emiliano, the Mayor of Bari, Marco Lacarra, Director of Public Works, Antonio De Caro, town councillor in charge of sustainable mobility, and Livio Gallo, Director of Enel’s Infrastructure and Networks Division.
 
This is the first public charging station in a distribution network that will be comprised of 50 Enel charging points for electric vehicles (EV), located in key areas throughout the city, chosen in conjunction with the Bari municipal government based on an careful analysis of the area and its traffic flows.

This is a technologically innovative project in the area of zero-emissions mobility, meant to benefit city residents, businesses, institutions and tourists, and carried out in cooperation with the City as part of the “Bari Smart City” Project. Those who sign a special contract with an electricity supplier will be given access, using a special card, to the Enel charging infrastructure throughout the city network.

Enel will install the 50 charging stations in two phases. The first, begun today with the inauguration of the charging station on Corso Cavour, will involve the installation of 24 infrastructures at 12 sites once the pending authorisation process is complete. Afterwards, Enel will complete its charging network by installing a further 26 infrastructures at 13 key locations in the City.

The technological innovation in Enel’s charging systems is based on public and residential charging devices equipped with an electronic meter, and on a remote management system that allows the Company to offer EV owners advanced services and the option of recharging their vehicles in a simple, convenient and safe manner.

Enel’s charging infrastructures are fitted with a double outlet (meeting Italian and international standards), making it possible to charge all the latest-generation EVs now on the market.

“Today, with great satisfaction, we are witnessing the birth of an important infrastructure that will make Bari the first city in southern Italy to have its own charging network for electric vehicles,” stated Livio Gallo, Enel’s Infrastructure and Networks Director, “We are certain that the availability of the fifty charging points will encourage citizens, public and private entities and local government to make greater use of e-mobility, thereby contributing in a significant way to the Bari Smart City Project, through which Enel and the City of Bari are working together to develop a sustainable and humane urban environment”.

“The City of Bari,” commented Mayor Emiliano, “has long followed the path towards sustainability, incorporating it into coherent actions in the various areas key to the urban system. Giving the City a system of public and private charging stations for electric vehicles is therefore a fundamental step forward. No city in southern Italy has done as much as we have to reduce air pollution and improve environmental quality. Bari, which aims to be one of the European smart cities that combines innovation, development and saving energy, applauds this initiative, which will make it easier for those who have already chosen to move around using clean energy”.