Colombia and the Netherlands unite to move towards a more electrically sustainable future

This month, 9 private and public entities, leaders in mobility, traveled to the Netherlands to gain a deeper understanding of the systems and innovation taking place in the electrical mobility sector in the Netherlands. This opportunity came about through the "Misión de Tecnología de Movilidad Sostenible y Proyectos Destacados," a project, developed by Holland House Colombia and the Dutch organization Heliox, aimed at teaching and orienting the opportunities that sustainable developments can have on the future of the mobility sector in Colombia.

The mission included several tours of Dutch sustainability and mobility companies. The tours took them to several places, for example, Rotterdam Central Station, renowned for its infrastructure and electric transport, where they learned about how public transport can become increasingly greener. They were also able to take a tour of Heliox, a leading company in fast charging solutions for the service of electric transportation. Later on, they were led on a tour of the Damen Shipyards Group, a company dedicated to the construction of boats and naval products, finishing with the Inmotion Formula E team, an electric vehicle racing team. It is the collaboration between these types of companies dedicated to sustainable mobility and electric vehicles, as well as the public investment that the Netherlands have dedicated to sustainability issues, that demonstrates a clear picture of why this country holds the first place in Europe in terms of ecological mobility.

The participating Colombian organizations, among which EPM, Movilidad Bogotá, la Secretaría de Ambiente de Bogotá y Transdev/Fanalca, come away from this mission having gained a deeper understanding of the implementation of certain processes in the Netherlands. According to Hugo Sáenz, deputy director of Air, Hearing and Visual Quality of the Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente de la Alcaldía de Bogotá, sustainable mobility can be achieved in Colombia if “a mobility ecosystem is created with a model that looks more at the long term, as the Netherlands does, and is not just looking for short-term results; with this, as well as an open and transparent dialogue, the objectives proposed for the Colombia 2030 agenda could be completed”.

Jan Willem van Bokhoven, director of Holland House Colombia, stated that work is being done on a sustainable mobility model in Colombia. “Last week's knowledge transfer mission allows us to strengthen this relationship and discover new areas of joint work, such as the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles."