You may believe it or not, but this project was developed at the same time Car2Go was starting. Way before the huge expansion of commuted transport. The point was not only to create a more environmentally respectful way to move in Madrid, but to create it in a way consumers would pay a fourth of what we pay nowadays. In other words: to pay for a car what you pay in many cities for a bike.
How? In spain in the year 2010 the economy was hitting so hard the population that the unemployment rate was over 20% and around 50% for young people. For this reason the company will offer Spanish made cars (Renault Twizy, produced in Valladolid) and charging stations made in Sevilla. The workers would be Spanish learning mechanics in a way to create a symbiosis in which the Education Center will gain experience and the company will keep the prices as low as possible.
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Why wasn't it developed? The politicians in Madrid weren't in favor of offering public ground for charging stations of a private company, not even being open to the public for a little fee. Not having this point would make the price to rocket to a point totally away of the main target: to offer the best price. Also at the moment there wasn't any "park where you want if you have an electric car" politic and this was also critic.
Nevertheless, developing this project was for me a huge winning. The time invested offer me the change to learn how to make a Business Plan, how to contact people and even how to present it to the city council. The business plan took me to some potential business angels that where interested in the idea and offer a good amount of money to make it work if I could get the approval from the city council.
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At the end, after some years of developing and making the best of it the idea Urban Planning Part of the idea served as reference point for another company, a renting bike company. Did I sell my idea for nothing? I wouldn't say so, the city of Madrid is a bit cleaner nowadays thank you to the impulse of this kind of ideas and I like to think somehow is because the doors I knocked.
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