Engineers and transporters believe that the future of vehicles depends on the coexistence of electric technology, clean fuels and hydrogen.

The Federation of Auto Transport of Tarragona (FEAT) and the College of Industrial Technical Engineers of Tarragona (Inginyers Tarragona) presented last Tuesday in the day of debate the technological challenges that the sector will face in the years coming, and pointed out the possible solutions and alternatives, which will involve the simultaneous use of different complementary technologies. They did so in the second session of the conference 'The future of transport in Tarragona: transport and technology', which was held at the Tarragona Seminary with the participation of around eighty people including assistants, engineering experts, representatives of technology companies and carriers.

The minutes were opened by Joan Gabriel Talarn, dean of the Tarragona College of Industrial Technical Engineers, who emphasized that "each productive sector will have its technology, but we are still at the beginning of the development of these new technologies, the coming years will be key to finally defining whether the electric vehicle prevails or whether hydrogen ends up being a fundamental vector for the transport sector."

Talarn explained that "a big issue right now is the cost of electric and hydrogen transportation vehicles compared to the current fossil fuel ones, and so we're hoping that the technology will evolve and bring the costs down, and that the regulations will eventually be adjusted, in order to give an impetus to these new technologies. We need the support of the public administration with financial aid and regulatory regulation to be able to make the transition."

The efficient and effective transport of people and goods by road in Camp de Tarragona and the Terres de l'Ebre would not be possible without the constant technological evolution applied to the world of engines, bodies and fuels. The evolution of citizens' needs and the challenges posed by an increasingly globalized and technological society means that the sector faces great challenges. For this reason, the president of FEAT, Joaquim Riudeubas, has stated that "following the European guidelines, we are concerned that in 2035 it will no longer be possible to sell transport vehicles that work with diesel engines, when only in Tarragona there is a fleet of more than 4,000 vehicles with an internal combustion engine between trucks, buses and taxis".

The session featured the interventions of Enric Vidal, professor of Electronic, Electrical and Automatic Engineering at Rovira i Virgili University; Jorge Ríos, CEO of Etecnic Movilidad Eléctrica; Isaac Justícia, director of the technical office of the Hidrogen Valley of Catalonia; Francisco Rosa, account manager in business with Repsol companies; Xavier Ribas, director of Evarm; Javier Lavernia, CEO of Tecnovelero, and the representatives of the vehicle manufacturers Iveco (Juan Carlos Martín), Mercedes (Miquel Roca) and Renault (Pedro Mayorga). The first session of the conference was held in the same space last March 19. This initiative has had the support of the Department of Territory of the Generalitat.