An essential part of this is the e-fleet of 30 small commercial vehicles and cars that E.ON operates in the city, tailored to the municipality’s needs. The combined mileage of those cars has now reached one million kilometers.
The carbon-neutral fleet has saved an estimated 120 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, reducing the environmental impact and lowering fuel costs for the municipality and taxpayers. Experience in Szolnok (111 km southeast of Budapest by road) shows that annual savings can be as high as HUF 1 million per car if EVs are charged “in-house,” E.ON says.
The oldest units of the Szolnok city e-fleet, inaugurated in 2017, have just been replaced with three new BYD Dolphin electric cars, which have a range of 427 km and a battery capacity of 60.4 kWh.
“The first energy community was built in our city, one of the largest solar parks in Hungary is located here, and the largest energy storage facility is also being built here, which shows how committed we are to greening,” said Mayor of Szolnok Ferenc Szalay.
“The launch of the e-fleet and the implementation of the charging infrastructure have served as a positive example throughout the city, and the number of e-cars used by businesses and the private sector has also increased spectacularly in recent years,” he added.
In addition to maintaining the city’s e-fleet, E.ON is also responsible for building part of the city’s EV charging network. It operates 12 charging points at five charging stations, which will be expanded by another five. This will bring the total number of public charging points for electric cars to 22. To date, the charging points have supplied Szolnok’s electric vehicles with around 145 MWh of green energy from renewable sources.
“Sustainability is a key strategic objective that permeates our entire operations. While we are significantly reducing the carbon footprint of our operations year on year, moving towards our full carbon neutrality target, we are also helping our partners achieve their own emission reduction targets,” said Zsolt Jamniczky, deputy CEO of the E.ON Hungária Group.
“If you want to know what the future will look like, you need to visit Szolnok: the advanced, smart and sustainable solutions we are using here are shaping what the new energy world, based on clean solutions, will look like in a decade or two,” he claimed.
The municipality and E.ON have been cooperating for many years. The Szolnok Intelligent Urban Energy Model (Szivem) project, based on sustainable energy, was the first energy community established in the country. Its solar power plants supply clean energy to public institutions, kindergartens, medical clinics and residential buildings in the city, storing energy even when the sun is not shining.
The aforementioned electric charging network is powered by solar panels on the roofs of car parks. Nine solar power plants at six sites contribute to the city’s energy needs.
E.ON says it offers its customers a range of solutions to build a sustainable future. With the e-flotilla service, it not only provides electric cars on demand but also takes care of the entire operation, including the construction and operation of charging points.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of June 14, 2024.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
