Developed by two Spanish entities - the Energy Agency of Andalusia and the Andalusian Federation of Municipalities - and two Portuguese - the Portuguese Electric Vehicle Association (APVE) and the Algarve Energy Agency (AREAL) -, the project is analysing, studying and creating supporting documents that will allow the use of electric vehicles on both sides of the border, the director of AREAL, Claudio Casimiro, explained to Lusa.

He said that Garveland aims to develop actions between the Algarve and Andalusia to promote electric mobility, particularly in areas of special tourism and environmental interest, such as the Ria Formosa Natural Park and the Castro Marim Marshland Nature Reserve, in the Algarve, in Portugal or the Doñana National Park, in the Spanish region of Andalusia.

The project has €300,000 available and, in the end, documents and electronic platforms will be produced to show the offer of electric mobility existing in the two regions, but also electric mobility plans for these areas of tourist or environmental interest and the municipalities.

"We are now in the process of developing pilot projects,” Casimiro said, adding “we have contacted two environmental parks, the Ria Formosa Nature Park and the Castro Marim Marshland Nature Reserve, and we are going to do a study dedicated to electric mobility in these parks.”

This work also covers municipalities such as Loulé, Silves and Castro Marim in Portugal, where electric mobility plans are being developed, he added.

The last phase is the creation of a geographical information platform, with the existing routes in the Algarve - such as wine routes or inland - so that anyone who rents an electric car in Faro has information at their disposal at the outset that allows them to leave the city in an electric car, visit the Ria Formosa Park, then head for the Castro Marim Reserve and, why not, also go to Doñana National Park, or vice-versa.

According to Casimiro, the idea is to create free documents for all interested parties, in the hope of improving the supply side of electric mobility, because there is already demand and environmental and sustainable tourism is less and less niche and more masses.

And when tourists can access this offer, they can have the temporary experience of using an electric vehicle and see how its use can be advantageous and more sustainable in everyday life, he said.