Nuestra NEBRIJA 31 - octubre 2019

43 This would be enough to heat, in the harshest winter, ten traditionally constructed homes in cold areas. If we take into account that there are only 15,000 urban buses in Spain and we add the transportation of goods and the intercity transportation of people, we can get a notion of the enormous amount of energy that is wasted and difficult to recover. Although the introduction of the electric vehicle is still important and is growing day by day in the utility segment, if we analyze, for example, the urban bus fleets, we see that all electric vehicles make up just a symbolic percentage. City Urban Buses* Electric Buses % Madrid 2,400 25 1.05 Barcelona 2,000 7 0.3 Valencia 480 0 0 Malaga 242 1 0.4 Sevilla 401 1 0.2 Zaragoza 312 0 0 Bilbao 140 0 0 Paris 4,500 50 1.2 London 7,720 9 0.1 * 2017 data that may vary according to sources. To this we must add that, given the current cost of these vehicles (up to €300K more than a conventional one), their acquisition is usually the result of strong contributions of public money, so they are more a public relations campaign by city hall than a real commitment to decarbonization. That is why an effort in research, training and transfer to industry of people who are well-trained and knowledgeable in this area will have a positive impact on the evolution of this sector and will contribute very positively to the future progressive sustainability of surface transportation. We are, however, still a small group. Excellent, but small.Wehavea long-termvisionandareplanning to accomplish not only that our achievements be recognized, but also that Nebrija's style be spread through our collaborations and actions. Indeed, as we are just a few people and with that ambitious vision, the road constitutes a continuous effort, which demands much from not only researchers in the area but also from those students who work with us and who will end up in our companies. There we cannot fail. The company must observe in Nebrija's human resources, students or professors, an attitude that leads them to think: this is what I want for my company. Technologies and knowledge become obsolete faster and faster. What is cutting-edge technology today will be obsolete in three years. Only a culture of personal effort and an attitude of alertness and continuous curiosity can keep our companies up with what the markets demand. In addition, even large teams cannot be experts in everything. We must know how to select and commit to what we know are the important possibilities to succeed. And the rest? The rest will happen by establishing close ties of collaboration with those centers, departments and professionals that have a similar attitude and whose capabilities complement ours, and ours complement theirs. A win-win alliance will allow us to have a broader vision of the problems we face and greater strength in dealing with them. Strengthening these ties will allow us to move further and better towards the proposed goals. I will finish with the message on the last page of this magazine's July's issue because of the implications it has on the effort and attitude, and which agrees with all of the above: “The world (and companies, departments, products, services ...) have questions. Be the answer”. T he energy lost in a single vehicle could heat ten traditionally constructed homes in cold areas