VW kicks off ground-breaking project to transform Astypalaia into Mediterranean’s first ‘smart, green’ island

The southeastern Aegean island of Astypalea (Astypalaia) this week staked its claim as the first “smart and green” isle in the Mediterranean, with a project begun by Volkswagen Group, in cooperation with the Greek state, to transform the picturesque and slightly “off-the-beaten-path” destination into a state-of-the-art model for climate-neutral mobility.
A veritable “photo-op festival” emerged on Wednesday with the visit to the isle by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and VW AG CEO Herbert Diess – at the head of a large delegation of executives from the automaker – for a presentation of the ambitious plan, entitled “Astypalea: Smart & Sustainable island – From Vision to Action.”

Speaking at the event, Diess referred to the island as a blueprint for Europe’s “decarbonization”.

The pioneering endeavor aims to study, in real time, and encourage residents to apply e-mobility in their daily routines, according to the German executive. A bundle of incentives is included to push towards a transition to a more sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. Results generated and studied from the Astypalea project will help accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility with “green energy” in Greece, he added.

“Volkswagen has been driving this change, offering the full range of sustainable mobility – from cars, to charging to sustainable energy solutions. Astypalea can become a blueprint for a rapid transformation, fostered by the close collaboration of governments and businesses,” Diess said.

On his part, Mitsotakis, whose government has promised to end lignite mining and use by the end of this decade, stressed that the Astypalea project is “a window to a cleaner, greener future.”

A major portion of Greece’s power production for the past five or so decades has been derived from lignite-fired plants.

During his visit, Mitsotakis also attended an event where VW delivered eight electric cars and 12 chargers for use by police and the coast guard on the island. He also announced that a digital platform – e-astypalea – is now open to local residents and businesses that wamt to apply for state grants should they choose to purchase electric vehicles.

A memorandum of understanding between the German multinational and the Greek state to establish the unprecedented island mobility system was signed in November 2020. The project is expected to initially last for six years, with energy needs projected to be generated from local recyclable sources, such as solar and wind farms.

According to both VW and Athens the ambitious project aspires to turn Astypalea into the first ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’ island of the Mediterranean and is centered on the following axes:

● Electric mobility, with an aim to gradually replace all conventional vehicles on the island with electric ones

● Car sharing services and on demand public transportation

● Displacing fossil fuel usage and diesel generators by producing energy with a hybrid Renewable Energy Source system on the island