On Saturday, 15 May, several hundreds of Rigans watched a showcase of ecologic cars on the streets of Riga, which was a culmination event of the entire CO2 E-Race Riga project.
The project was designed to increase public awareness in the Baltic States about the global climate crisis and show possible ways to solve it through the latest technologies and creative solutions.
While the sun interchanged with heavy rainshowers, 11 environmentally friendly cars and 5 electric mopeds from Sweden and Baltic States went off on an unusually silent car parade.The hour-long parade resulted in a CO2 map of Riga, whereas the event visitors could inspect the electric vehicles closer and to have a chat with their owners.
Those who took the opportunity to try out riding in some of the e-cars were positively suprised, confirming that the vehicles were very silent and that their design and technical equipment was indeed different than in petrol-driven vehicles.
The ecologic vehicles sparked equally great amount of interest among the residents of Riga and the visitors from abroad. A great deal of public attention was captured by the silver ""Pobeda”, which had undergone a remake and was now equipped with an electric engine, as well as a two-seat e-mobile ""ZEV SEVEN”, which was the only sample of an open automobile. No less noteworthy was the hydrogen-powered ""Umo-Hymo” – a joint technological creation by the researchers and students of the Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Latvia and the Riga Technical University.
Addressing the audience at the Congress Hall, Head of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Office, Imants Gross, spoke about sustainable transportation as an increasingly important field in which the Nordic region was striving to become a key global player.
The CO2 E-Race Riga was organised by the Danish Cultural Institute in Latvia in cooperation with the Nordic Council of Ministers` Office in Latvia, the Embassy of Denmark in Latvia, the Soros Foundation–Latvia, the Latvian Ministry of Environment and the Riga Motor Museum.
For more information: www.co2erace.lv
