Along the Emilia Motor Valley, there is an ecosystem of companies that will ride the wave of the transition to electric vehicles in a unique way.
A number of Italian car industry chiefs and managers held a round table to discuss the future of the electric car industry in Italy, during the Motor Valley Fest 2021 . During which the participants stressed that the best electric cars would be launched from Italy and Italian companies.
Teodoro Liu, European Director of Automotive and Mobility at Accenture, opened: “The electric car is not a marketing phenomenon and is not merely the result of increasingly stringent emissions legislation. But the electric car is a product in itself: it is in the market because the market demands it.”
Table manager Alessandro Lago said: If the electric car is first and foremost a car, where could it be better developed if not in the cradle of the world’s most famous and performance car, the Italian Motor Valley? Where there are excellent skills and, above all, the ability to create a system that the world will envy. There is an unparalleled base in Italy that qualifies to become the world’s center for advanced electric vehicles, as evidenced by the massive investment of Chinese Faw.
natural development
David Danesen, global CEO of Maserati GT Line, shared this view, saying: “The electric car is not a revolution, but an evolution of the car concept. And designing electrical models is not just another job. There are new skills to be developed and new problems to be solved, but the concepts that a manufacturer like Maserati has learned through decades of research are fundamental.”
He adds: “The automotive world has always been evolving and we have always been in it, the evolution today is about zero emissions, but we are not at the breaking point: we are adding new things to our established heritage. “
David Danesen confirmed that Maserati will launch itself in the world of electric cars next year with the GranTurismo Fulgor. This is one of the most representative models of the Trident brand, and the decision to start with this car carries a subtle message: even if it is battery-powered, it will be a car made with the full respect of the genes of this Modena company. “It will also be served with an endothermic propulsion – explains Danesin – but there will be great consistency between the two energy sources and great respect for our past.”
electrical invasion
And after Maserati GranTurismo Folgore’s entry into electric vehicle technology , it became part of a larger trend. Maserati will operate between now and 2025, with many zero-emission sports cars coming to market. By 2025, a third of supercars will be electric and another third of regular cars will be electric.
That’s because the customer base targeting these niche markets is also changing. They want to continue driving high-performance models but also experience them as a key to a new world, generating curiosity and making them feel like they are in the future. Motor Valley could also play a leading role in this process, evolving, alongside Maserati, with alliances such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani and Dallara. These are important names that will bring about profound changes in the entire industry.
Change in electric vehicle charging
During the table, Federico Calino, Head of e-Mobility in Italy at Enel X, and Antonio Gioia, Sales Manager of e-Mobility at A2A, explained to us how the Italian infrastructure will evolve. They say that the arrival of many high-performance electric vehicles on the market will bring with them new charging requirements. And since sports cars generally have larger batteries, it will be very important to take advantage of the ultra-fast charging rates. lhave
“In the past two years, we wanted to deliver homogeneous coverage on the national territory with 13,000 points across 500 stations,” Calino says. Since the beginning of the year, we have started a second phase aimed at establishing a fast charging network with rates of up to 350 kW.”
He explains: “We will arrive in 2025 with 3,000 booths of this type, and after eliminating the fear of running out of gas, we are now working on long flights. It is for this reason that we have just sent a document to all concessionaires who operate the Italian motorway network, and in this document we have announced our readiness to install recharging stations at all 440 service stations in Italy.”
Antonio Gioia, Sales Director of e-mobility at A2A confirmed that his company is moving in the same direction: “We started in 2010 to start the first trials with car manufacturers,” and we started installing charging stations in the two main cities of Lombardy, Brescia and Milan, and we also worked mainly on 50 kW , but now we are preparing for an expansion plan and 2030 will see our presence throughout Italy, emphasizing that we will move from the current 700 recharging points to 6000, among which also express charging will be installed on motorways, bypasses and motorways.”
Motorcycles too
The attendees emphasized the launch of the Italian technology to cross electric cars into motorcycles, emphasizing the role of Energica Motor in Modena, a company specialized in the production of high-performance electric motorcycles. Explaining how the needs of an environmentally friendly motorcyclist differ from the needs of a motorist , Giampero Testoni, the company’s director of technology, said: “A customer of an electric motorcycle is a driver who is looking first and foremost for performance, loves technology, but wants to experience the typical emotions of a motorbike. traditional. Our client is looking for curves.”
Testoni emphasized the need to ensure ease of recharging, saying: “We need to think about infrastructure that also exists on mountain roads, and on roads that motorcyclists love and traverse. “Our motorcycles accelerate from 0 to 100 in 2.6 seconds,” Testoni continued, and when a motorcyclist tries it, he always smiles when he takes off his helmet. But he is skeptical about the charging process, so tools like a convenient charging network in places frequented by motorcyclists can do a lot.”
Motor Valley and Digital Valley
On the global electric car market, Liu said, “I often do this provocation. So far, the auto industry has been a “simple” world. You designed a model, produced it, sold it, and then never thought about it again. We are now faced with more complex ecosystems, which offer the advantage of a much larger market space. The combined automotive world is worth $3.5 trillion. By 2030, the mobility market will double that value at $7 trillion. Because it will add services, such as technology, digitization. Besides thinking about self-driving or shared mobility.”
This is where Motor Valley in Italy should focus. The combination of excellence in this upcoming field and new professional skills will drive the region to assert itself on a global level, propelling Motor Valley to become, in Lio’s words, “a digital valley, a cyber valley, and a sustainable valley.” Because in order to make an electric car, one must first and foremost know how to make a car, and the car must now be digital, connected and environmentally friendly.
Watch the round table held on the sidelines of the Auto Valley Motor Valley Festival
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