Barcelona will be the world capital of the electric vehicle in 2013

Barcelona (ACN).- Barcelona will be the world capital of the electric vehicle in 2013 as the next edition of the Electric Vehicle Symposium (EVS) –the reference world congress in this sector- will take place here. The city has received the baton from Los Angeles (USA) to host the EVS27. Sònia Recasens, Barcelona Deputy Mayor for Business, Economy and Employment, has stated that “Barcelona is the European benchmark for electric mobility and hosting the EVS27 will enable the city to gain worldwide positioning as the front-runner within this strategic sector”.  For the companies involved, it is a chance to create international synergies regarding both the creation of new electric vehicle models and the consolidation of its components.

More than 40% of the industry located within Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area is linked to the automotive sector and more than 80 companies and entities, including Nissan, Seat, Endesa, Siemens or Schneider, are already linked to the electric mobility sector.

The EVS brand is owned by the WEVA (World Electric Association), which comprises the three worldwide electric vehicle associations: in the US (EDTA), for Asia and the Pacific region (EVAAP) and for Europe (AVERE). Each year the congress is held in a different city on a different continent: in 2011it took place in Shenzhen (China), in 2012 in Los Angeles and, next year, it will be in Barcelona.

When it started over 25 years ago, EVS was a congress for researchers and universities. It was not until the year 2000 that the congress achieved a sector and industrial dimension in the automotive industry. The strong and strategic commitment of the cities which held the congress was also important to make it possible.

In 2010, the Barcelona City Hall, together with IDAE (Spanish Industry Ministry) and AVELE (Electric Vehicle Spanish Association), presented in Brussels Barcelona’s candidacy to be the European city to hold the 2013 congress. The Catalan capital beat Paris and Geneva and was the selected city by AVERE’s executive committee.

Fira de Barcelona Trade Fair will be the event organiser, which will take place in November 2013 at the Gran Via venue, coinciding with the third edition of the Smart City Expo & World Congress, the summit on intelligent cities, which in its 2013 edition will be precisely dedicated to sustainable mobility.