First electric shuttle delivered to the Governorate

As part of its development programme for sustainable mobility, launched in November of last year and called “Ecological Conversion 2030, the Governorate of Vatican City State is continuing to gradually replace the State’s vehicles with electrical vehicles, in an effort to achieve zero impact by 2030.

The delivery of its first Melex eight-seater shuttle on 4 July by Exelentia, an Italian mobility factory, is part of this conversion. The eight-seater shuttle is equipped to carry one wheel chair for people with reduced mobility. In fact, by reducing the seats to six, space was made for a person with reduced mobility and a wheel chair.

In this way, the Governorate is looking after people with frailties, and at the same time, promoting electric and hybrid mobility, in order to achieve climate neutrality and compensate for CO2 emissions.

One of the objectives of the Governorate is to guarantee that its energy needs are met exclusively by renewable energy sources. With his Apostolic Letter, Fratello Sole, issued Motu Proprio on 21 June, Pope Francis entrusted Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State and Archbishop Gordano Piccinotti, President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, with “the task of constructing an agrivoltaic plant located within the extraterritorial zone of Santa Maria di Galeria that will guarantee, not only the power supply of the radio station there, but also the complete energy sustenance of Vatican City State”.

It is certainly a decisive step towards reaching the objectives of “Ecological Conversion 2030”. Included in these efforts is the implementation of charging stations for electric vehicles in the State’s territory and in the extraterritorial zones.