Developing a national charging network, storage systems to avoid burdening the national grid, an energy mix for producing electricity from renewable sources, and — not least — fast-charging batteries with a longer life cycle. These are the ingredients for real progress in electric mobility.

And following the ultra-fast charging systems and a full-scale network being developed by Tesla Motors in Europe and in Italy, Enea (the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) is also working on the development of technologies for electric mobility, in particular on fast and wireless charging batteries.

As Antonino Genovese, an Enea researcher at the Systems and Technologies for Mobility and Storage laboratory, explains: "Improving efficiency in electric mobility is one of the strands of the programme agreement, and in this context Enea's studies are focusing on storage systems and charging networks using wireless technologies, meaning those that do not require a direct cable connection between the vehicle and the charging station."

Enea has already worked on the fast-charging system for a number of electric minibuses, developed in collaboration with the Universities of Pisa and Rome La Sapienza. The system consists of 24 lithium modules capable of recharging in 5 minutes during stops at the terminus — much like in Savona, where as early as 2013 the Canadian company Bombardier tested a similar system.

"The new frontier of research is the integration of multiple electricity sources — such as renewables or stationary storage — to reduce the impact on the electricity distribution network and meet the need for charging infrastructure even in potentially costly and uneconomical settings," Genovese points out.

"Italy," he concludes, "has already adopted the National Plan for Electric Charging Infrastructure for the competitive development of zero-emission mobility, and an initial allocation of 4.5 million euros has been assigned to the Regions to carry out 19 electric charging infrastructure projects, also to bridge the gap separating Italy from other European Union countries."