EV transition in Gibraltar event held

The first of a series of events stemming from last year’s Aspire Conference on a Sustainable Built Environment was held on Monday, and was opened by Minister for Environment and Transport Dr John Cortes.

The event was organised in collaboration with the Gibraltar Sustainable Buildings Group and sponsored by Bassadone Motors. Each event in the Aspire series will focus on a different aspect of the built environment and today’s session looked at the challenges and opportunities offered by the transition to electric vehicles.

This remains one of the key policies in the Government’s net zero strategy and guest speaker, Philip Valarino, provided attendees with a view of the industry. Mr Valarino has over 20 years of experience in the energy market and led the development of French energy giant EDF’s electric vehicle business in the UK. He is now an independent consultant.

The session was well attended with over 50 people from both industry and the public sector, said a statement from the Government.

Common questions were tackled such as the relative environmental benefit of an EV versus a traditional internal combustion engine, the lifetime cost of owning an EV and the environmental implications of battery production and recycling. Mr Valarino also talked through some example journeys, touching on the issues of range and charging anxiety, highlighting that the shift to EV requires a change in mindset as well as a change in vehicle.

Dr Cortes stated that providing charging infrastructure was the key challenge for Government and reiterated the Government’s commitment to working with industry to deliver on this as it supports the transition to electrification, as stated in the recently published EV Policy.