The Sbandieratori in action |
Some participants found it hard to get up for the early start out of Torino, where course was set towards Asti. The location for the charging place here was a rather uninspiring concrete parking lot just outside the town; to their surprise however the Transeuropean participants were welcomed there by the "Sbandieratori del Palio d'Asti" in full attire. Throwing their colourful flags around on the beat of the drum they made an impressive performance during the one-hour stop. |
| On then towards Alessandria. The first stop here was the Politecnico, where the vehicles were put on charge and participants were offered an "al fresco" garden lunch by Professor Paolo Ferraris, who performs electric vehicle drive train research at this institution. |
The Politecnico |
Prof. Maggetto speaking in Alessandria |
After lunch, all vehicles were weighed to allow accurate energy consumption calculation, and then the electrocade set couse to the Piazza de la Liberta where the vehicles were put on show and all participants received a souvenir of the city given by the Mayor of Alessandria, Mrs. Francesca Calvo. The vehicles drove in circles around the Piazza to show their silent operation, and were ushered towards the city limits by Alessandria police, as to set course under bright sunshine through the beautiful Italian countryside to the ancient spa town of Acqui Terme. |
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The two hour charging stop here, hosted by ENEL, allowed participants some time to do some shopping in the city centre or to sample a nip of the famous hot spring water. By the end of the afternoon, the electric vehicles started to climb the Appennine hills until they catched the first glimpse of the Mediterranean sea on the descent towards Savona, where a charging facility had been provided on the premises of the local bus company ACTS, which is in the process of acquiring hybrid buses under the Sagittaire project. |
Acqui Terme |