The Edison project partners with eCelje for the growth of local economies in the region
16. 09. 2017 | News
At the 50th anniversary of the MOS international trade fair, the strategic partners (listed below) of the Edison international mobility project and eCelje (numerous Slovenian Rotary Clubs and Rotary Slovenia, the Municipality of Celje and the Celje Fair along with strategic Edison partners) within the framework of Rotary Friendship Days for the growth of local economies in the region, cordially opened the "Edison eCity" project, with which partners in Slovene municipalities are introducing a comprehensive concept of electromobility. The Municipality of Celje was the first to adopt the concept and to publicly announce that the future is in green energy and mobility.
The development of green mobility is necessary for the long-term future sustainability and prosperity of society. An important role is played by ambitious innovative breakthroughs, modern technology, appropriate infrastructure and the ability to stand together to achieve common goals. With the EDISON international mobility project - Eco Driving Innovative SOlutions and Networking, Slovenia is bringing together over 40 strategic partners, companies, research and education institutions, municipalities and rotary clubs, to rapidly develop a model for the efficient transfer of affordable and user-friendly green mobility technologies to the market. The project partners are working to realize green mobility and its related technologies as quickly as possible. The ambassador of the Edison project, Dr. Iztok Seljak of Hidria is convinced that with Edison, Slovenia will join the core of global development in green mobility technologies and solutions for the future: “Edison is an innovative business model of unlimited cooperation between science, education and business, between public and private for the common good, by which we will take the lead in creating and applying innovative breakthrough solutions for the future of green mobility in Slovenia, the European region and globally.”
With the development, production and introduction of human-friendly green mobility technologies, the Edison partners are making important contributions to the protection of the environment, strengthening of the economy, improvement of the quality of life and thereby a better world for all of us. As most of these are the basic principles of Rotarianism, many Slovene and Serbian Rotary clubs have joined the project. Together and connected they want to contribute to the growth of prosperity and wider satisfaction of both Slovenia and the region. The future governor of Rotary Slovenia, Janez Lipec, has reminded us that Slovenian Rotary Clubs began with e-mobility projects for humanitarian purposes in 2015, and met the Serbian Rotary clubs in Belgrade with this purpose in April: "Edison eCelje is a concrete contribution to the growth of Slovenian and regional economies. The rotary wheel rotates faster and more responsibly, and in parallel, many other wheels are powered by a common performance."
With the introduction of the Edison eCity concept, the Municipality of Celje and the Edison partners gradually placed a number of electric charging stations in Celje and introduced electric cars into their fleet. An electric taxi will soon begin to drive in Celje, and e-car sharing will be available on a long-term basis, which the partners intend to expand throughout Slovenia. The Mayor of Celje, Bojan Šrot, stresses that the Municipality is aware that it is necessary to think-outside-the-box for a green future, even in the case of investments and projects. It is very important to minimize the carbon footprint, not only by renovation of buildings to become more energy efficient, but also in transport. It is for this reason that they are following the electromobility concept: "We want to be an example to other citizens, so we recently purchased our first electric vehicle and are currently in the phase of buying a second one. There are a number of charging stations for electric vehicles in Celje. By building a charging infrastructure and changing the parking policy, we want to encourage people to buy e-vehicles." That is why, together with the partners for Celjane and other visitors to the princely town during the 50th MOS, they organized free transportation with a Slovenian electric bus, Vivo Bus, along one of the regular urban routes and enabled them to test many electric vehicles.
Since the Edison project covers all key EU strategic orientations, it has been monitored since its inception by the Slovenian government by the competent ministries and the European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, who has cordially opened Edison eCelje. With the project and the planned Edison Innovation Center in Koper, Slovenia is becoming a natural laboratory of green mobility for the future, as well as an exemplary location for the creation and testing of innovative green technologies. The partners thus provide additional economic growth, new good quality jobs, prevent the emigration of educated people, and attract foreign investors and experts who build a better and cleaner future for all of us with their innovative knowledge and solutions.
Partners of the initiative groups and signatories of the letter of intent are (in alphabetical order) ABC rent a car in turizem d.o.o. – Europcar Slovenija, ABELIUM d.o.o., ADVENTURA HOLDING d.o.o., AVANTCAR, poslovni inženiring d.o.o., AVRIGO d.o.o., CELJSKI SEJEM d.d., DRUŠTVO S RALLY, E3, energetika, ekologija, ekonomija d.o.o., ELAPHE d.o.o., ELEKTRIČNA VOZILA F d.o.o., ELEKTRO CELJE d.d., ELEKTRO PRIMORSKA d.d., ETI d.d., ETREL d.o.o., E3, energetika, ekonomija in ekologija d.o.o., GOR KOLESA d.o.o., GOLEA, goriška lokalna energetska agencija, HIDRIA d.o.o., IOLAR d.o.o., ISKRA Mehanizmi d.o.o., IZLETNIK Celje d.o.o., KOLEKTOR GROUP d.o.o., KORONA Inženiring d.d., MESTNA OBČINA CELJE, MESTNA OBČINA KOPER, MESTNA OBČINA NOVA GORICA, MESTNA OBČINA NOVO MESTO, MESTNA OBČINA VELENJE, NGV d.o.o., OMV Slovenija d.o.o., PETROL d.d., PLAN-NET SOLAR d.o.o., PODKRIŽNIK d.o.o., RAZVOJNI CENTER NOVO MESTO d.o.o., ROTARY KLUB IDRIJA, ROTARY DISTRIKT 1912 (Slovenija), SiEVA d.o.o., Strateško razvojno inovacijsko partnerstvo na področju Mobilnosti SRIP ACS+, ŠPICA International d.o.o., TPV d.o.o., UP FAKULTETA ZA MANAGEMENT, ZAG ZAVOD ZA GRADBENIŠTVO, ZAVOD 404, ASSOCIATION OF TRANSPORT, CCIS, partner in SRIP ACS+.
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Additional information: SRIP ACS+, Dunja Podlesnik, 01/ 236 17 35, dunja.podlesnik@acs-giz.si