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Interview with Rodrigo Alaminos, General Coordinator of the Martorell City Council for over 10 years
Martorell is a municipality in Baix Llobregat (Barcelona) with a population of over 27,760 (INE 2023), covering 12.84 km² and more than 20,000 registered passenger cars in 2022. It is a well-known city in the mobility sector for hosting headquarters of SEAT, Solvay, and Cargill (the latter also an Etecnic client).
Martorell City Council committed to electric mobility and in 2020 installed its first electric vehicle charger. Currently (2023), it features 12 charging points, including a variety of connector types and power ratings, enabling EV drivers to charge across various locations in the city, which you can view here.
All charging points in Martorell are municipal property, supplied and managed by Etecnic, one of Europe’s pioneering engineering firms specializing in comprehensive electric mobility solutions for public roads and business areas.
Furthermore, Martorell City Council wanted to go a step further toward sustainable mobility and energy self-consumption by constructing a solar-powered charging station at El Vapor parking lot. It features an 8.25 kWp solar carport equipped with two 22 kW semi-fast charging sockets (serving 4 parking bays). Surplus energy generated when no vehicles are connected is fed into the La Vila Sports Complex, reducing the facility’s overall electricity bill.
In addition, private companies also operate various charging points throughout Martorell.
We spoke with Rodrigo Alaminos, General Coordinator of Martorell City Council for over a decade, who shared how the transition toward more sustainable mobility unfolded alongside Etecnic.
Let’s start at the beginning: where would you say the need to install charging points in Martorell originated?
Building an electric vehicle charging network forms part of a broader action plan implemented by Martorell City Council to combat climate change.
We aimed to ease the transition toward electric vehicles. We outlined a municipal strategy to establish an EV charging point network and developed several projects—some involving civil works, others procurement—depending on available funding opportunities. Some projects were backed by provincial council grants, others by IDAE funds, and others under the MOVES framework…
Municipalities can lease public space to third parties or maintain the infrastructure as a publicly owned asset to energize the local area (procuring Etecnic services via the ACM framework, for instance). Why did you choose public ownership?
Public roads belong to the community, and we believe that is the best way to manage public services. We received proposals from private companies wishing to install equipment on public land, but we declined because we knew we could manage it directly ourselves via ACM. We did not want to manage a public interest through a private interest framework.
This does not prevent these companies from installing charging points on private land—in shopping centers, service stations, hotels—and we strongly support that. They complement our public network, and together we build a broader infrastructure to drive the shift toward sustainable mobility.
Regarding community engagement, what results have you observed since implementation? How has the project been received by residents?
It is a highly rated service. We are currently developing Martorell’s Sustainable Mobility Plan. In a survey distributed via the Provincial Council to gather mobility data across Barcelona municipalities, we were able to include local questions. We took the opportunity to ask over a thousand citizens whether they knew about the service, used the charging points, and how they rated them. The feedback was extremely positive. We are very pleased with the outcome.
Finally, looking at future plans, is this project part of a broader vision?
We now follow a very clear strategy: deploying fast-charging points in industrial zones and semi-fast or slow charging stations within urban centers, so users can shop or go about their business in town while charging. It’s a distinct approach—less about servicing long-distance drivers passing through Martorell, and more about encouraging people to stay local and attracting visitors who can engage in activities while recharging their vehicles.
We have strategically positioned charging points across various existing public facilities—hospitals, swimming pools… Our goal is to continue expanding this rollout until demand is fully met. It is an ambitious project compared to municipalities offering only one-off services. It isn’t just about scaling numbers; it’s a project that is maturing and continually requiring complementary services.
Looking ahead, we also plan to address electric commercial and industrial vehicle mobility to ensure a cleaner, digital, and future-ready Martorell for our citizens.
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