The fourth Peer review was held online due to the coronavirus epidemic. This time, the host of the peer review was our partner from Greece, from the town of Kozani. In addition to the partners, the meeting was attended by experts who, participating in the discussion, looked at the solutions of good practice prepared by the host Kozani.
One of the good practices presented is electric taxis which have proven to be a good solution in other countries given the number of kilometers that taxis travel in the city as well as the specifics of taxi transport. Regarding this, representatives of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, the Region of Central Macedonia, and the local and national taxi associations participated in the technical visit and expressed great interest. An interest was also expressed by taxi owners who were informed about the activities. The first electric taxi is already operating in Thessaloniki (by a taxi owner who participated in the project’s activities) and it is anticipated that additional electric taxis will be purchased in the near future. Despite the willingness of some of the taxi owners to purchase an electric car, the legal framework in Greece was not ready for integrating electric vehicles in taxi fleets. Also, the lack of charging infrastructure in the city and the lack of incentives were two important obstacles.
In addition, charging stations for electric vehicles as well as procured vehicles that can be used for transport in the city were presented. However, one of the challenges faced by the partner is the legal legislation as well as the restrictions related to the electricity network and the connection of charging stations to the electricity network.
