Working together for cleaner cars
Valmet Automotive knows something about making cars, while Ensto and Fortum know quite a bit about electricity. A good reason to team up and develop solutions for electric cars.
From A to B by AC/DC. A think electric car being assembled at Valmet Automotive in Finland (Photo: Think).
Fortum and Valmet Automotive have agreed on collaboration to develop an electric concept car and the related recharging technology. The goal is to introduce a fully-electric concept car at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2010. The solutions developed will be utilized in widening the offering by Finnish companies on the fast-growing electric car market.
- Valmet Automotive is not introducing its own electric car brand; instead, the idea is to create new solutions as a part of our service offering, emphasizes Ilpo Korhonen, President, Valmet Automotive.
- By bringing together the experts in the sector, we can develop service packages for OEM customers, packages that range from electric vehicle design and manufacturing to recharging systems.
Fortum is bringing to the project its know-how related to car recharging. There is already an abundant recharging infrastructure in Finland, thanks to the electric plug-in network for engine block heaters, but the wide-scale adoption of electric cars will require the recharging network to be developed.
Recharging points
Ensto and Fortum have worked together to develop a new type of recharging point for electric vehicles. Ensto hopes to export the product to the growing electric vehicle markets. The Kaupinkallio parking garage in the Tapiola area of Espoo, Finland, will be the first to receive the new type of recharging posts developed by Fortum and Ensto. The plan is to have the posts up and running by the end of November of this year.
- In 2008 Fortum launched a Nordic electric car project that is developing the recharging network for electric vehicles in Espoo and Stockholm, among other places. We are testing various technologies for electric vehicles and recharging solutions in the project as well as the infrastructure they require. The aim is to take the experiences gained in the introduction of the new posts that we developed with Ensto and use them also in the design of a more extensive recharging network, says Account Manager Juha Matikainen from Fortum.
The term electric car refers to a plug-in hybrid or a full-electric vehicle that is recharged directly from the grid. If an electric car is recharged with electricity generated from renewable energy sources, driving does not cause any carbon dioxide emissions.
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