Take small actions to generate the greatest possible impact.
Given the importance of climate challenges, cities of all sizes are now being called upon to transition to smarter, more sustainable mobility. In small and medium-sized cities, however, the issues are not the same as in metropolises. Founded two years ago, the innovation expertIVÉOprovides its support to these municipalities eager to embark on the major shift at lower cost.
A specialist in emerging technologies in the field of mobility, the Longueuil-based non-profit organization, in collaboration with its network of 22 partner cities, experiments with innovative transport solutions in real-world environments that meet the specific needs of small and medium-sized cities.
"The municipalities we work with do not have the necessary resources to cope with the complexity of new technologies, explainsBenoit Balmana, CEO of IVÉO. Our role is to help them better learn about and understand existing innovations, and to identify solutions that address their concerns."
From installing the infrastructure needed to deploy a public transport offer adapted to the regions to optimizing the use of municipal vehicle fleets, many technologies have been developed in recent years to encourage small and medium-sized cities to adopt smoother, greener and safer transport practices. IVÉO's role is to bridge these innovations and the real needs of municipalities within the contexts specific to them.
Contrary to a widely held belief, there is no need to start from scratch and replace your entire vehicle fleet to adopt innovative practices and optimize fleet use. Lower-cost solutions are available on the market. The Quebec companyEcotuned, for example, converts light and medium-duty internal combustion vehicles into electric vehicles by modifying their powertrains. The companyEffenco, for its part, has developed a technology that electrifies certain auxiliaries on vocational trucks to eliminate engine use when they are stationary.
Other solutions involve adapting the type of vehicle to the use rather than operating heavy vehicles that do not always correspond to actual needs.Concept GeeBee, in Sherbrooke, thus offers a type of light electric vehicle better suited to certain tasks. One can also think of intelligent route optimization, for example during waste collection. By equipping municipal trash bins with small fill-level sensors, it becomes possible to maximize routes by avoiding rounds of empty containers.
"These are fairly simple solutions, adds Benoit Balmana, which, in addition, are developed by Quebec companies. This is where we step in, to make cities aware of all this development potential and to show them that it's not so difficult to innovate."
Taking small actions to generate the greatest possible impact — that is IVÉO's objective. Let's bet that the number of partner cities will grow over the coming years.
Cover image photo credit: Matthew Henry from Burst
This partner content was produced as part of the Impulsion MTL 2019 event – the International Forum on Fleet Management.
