If you look from above you can see an island with the graceful shape of a butterfly dispersed in the Aegean, is Astypalea.
Until a few years ago only a few and particular connoisseurs of the territory went into the remote lands and little connected to mainland Greece of this island.
“The butterfly came out of the cocoon” in 2020, the year in which the Greek government signed a particular agreement with the Volkswagen Group to develop an exclusive sustainable mobility plan.
The sustainable mobility project for the zero-emission island
The ambitious project, unique in the whole Mediterranean, has seen the support and funding of the European EMOBICITY fund.
The goal is only one: to transform Astypalea into “a model island for zero climate impact mobility”.
From 2020 to today, the remote “butterfly of the Aegean Sea” has come a long way and from being a destination for the few it has become an island that is a destination for luxury tourism and international fame.
The project agreed between the Government and the car manufacturer, more particularly between Konstantinos Fragoyiannis, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic Diplomacy, and Herbert Diess, CEO of the Volkswagen Group, had an initial duration of six years.
There are many and very innovative new and clean mobility services, all aimed at optimizing and reducing traffic on the island in order to create a sort of “laboratory environment” to create zero-impact urban contexts.
Clean and digital mobility is divided into several services:
Electric ridesharing: this is a third party transport activity with driver;
Replacement of the local fleet: before this new service, the only possibility to move around the island was to use two or three worn and very polluting buses. The local fleet will be completely replaced by electric vehicles, powered by renewable energy.
Conventionally powered commercial and private vehicles will also be completely replaced by electric vehicles. The total number of vehicles planned is 1000.
