The city of São Paulo has inaugurated a fleet of fifteen, 100% electric, urban buses, which is the country’s largest. The energy comes from a solar farm and therefore is clean, which was one of the requirements of the local government. The other is that its cost is at most in the same proportion as diesel. The concern in relation to the production of the batteries is one of the principles of the World Economic Forum, but not the only one, explains David Tsai, a researcher from IEMA, in an interview with the Jornal da Cultura.
“Another warning that the Forum provides is in relation to the issue of the disposal of the materials. It concerns an appeal for a circular economy to be created, so that the batteries can be reused and recycled.”
Each electric bus no longer emits 110 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – cleaning the air of São Paulo, although much more effort is required, according to Tsai.
“Cars in Sao Paulo, compared to buses, emit the largest share of the pollutants. It is necessary to adopt measures that make the car driver migrate to public transport or to active transport modes, such as walking or cycling,” he concludes.
