Spain

Spain suffered a mass blackout. The distributed teleworking came immediately to save many companies

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Spain has lived an unprecedented fact in its history: A generalized blackout that affected the electricity supply of The entire Iberian Peninsulaincluding Portugal. As a collateral effect due to saturation, the mobile communications network He also collapsed. This made the normal development of The working day. So many companies ended up closing their doors. The blackout that Spain has suffered has been A very extreme casebut teleworking and, above all, distributed work has saved the furniture of those companies that did not have a staff structure based on workers resident in a single citycountry and even continent. While many companies They were forced at closing For not having electricity or Internet access, including those with remote employees, companies with remote workers distributed throughout the world demonstrated their resilience to any local incidence such as the one that left Spain in the dark. We have talked to two of those companies that could maintain their activity in Spain thanks to remote work distributed by different countries. Distributed work and global blackout templates One of the things that the proliferation of the Teleworking after the 2020 pandemicis that talent It no longer has borders And, thanks to technology, someone in Bali I could be teleworking For a Spanish company without any problem. Some digital native companies such as Eventbritea platform for the sale of tickets and events, broke with their centralized organization following the pandemic, and chose to redesign their structure in A decentralized model Based on small teams distributed throughout the world, but mainly in the US, India and Spain. Jaime ValloriVice President of Eventbrite engineering assured that Thanks to that decentralized structureEventbrite continued to function normally while the blackout lasted. “We organize in teams (Squads) that are responsible for the maintenance of the detail pages of certain events. On Monday, the Squads of Spain is not that they could not do the maintenance of those events, they could not even know if something happened because they could not access,” Vallori told us. Before such a scenariothe rest of the teams located outside Spain took over from their teammates. “We activate a protocol so that the teams we have in the United States and India, proactively monitoring those areas that we covered from Spain, but obviously, could not be covered by our team,” said Eventbrite Engineering head in Spain. Vallori stressed that the platform has an incident alert protocol that is automatically climbing to different equipment if it is not answered in a certain period of time. “Since we are geographically distributed, throughout that protocol there is people from different areas of the world Until you get up at all. Therefore, although we had not given us time to activate that checkup (of local events) proactively, in the end through the scaling, it would have reached someone who could access and resolve the incidence, “Vallorí explained. “Our customer service is also distributed between the United States and other countries,” says Vallori. Therefore, if someone with sufficient coverage In Spain I would like to be attended by the company’s customer service could have done so because it remained active despite the fact that the development team in Spain was not operational. Blablacar continued moving in the dark Víctor Méndez, Vice President of Engineering of Blablacar, already told us the Advantages of having a remote template distributed by different countries. Resilience to an event like the blackout that Spain has suffered is one that can add to its list. Florent BannwarthCountry Lead de Blablacar, lived in the first person the disconnection of your entire team of the company’s infrastructure. “He had time to see him come a little and notify France and other countries from which he was going to come to Spain. No one was going to be able to use the platform and we did not know when he was going to re -normalize. So from France they could organize and gave us support, “Bannwarth recalled. In addition to the shared car service, Blablacar also manages an international bus service, so it starts from France’s support was based on replacing the Spanish team in the management of those buses that came out of different parts of Spain. If not for them, This service would have stopped workingjust at the time when neither trains nor airplanes They operated normally. “The service worked without incident and had an important peak of activity, especially between Barcelona and cities in southern France such as Perpignan and Toulouse, many passengers. At the last minute the only thing that worked It was the bus“The head of the Blablacar team in Spain said. On the other hand, Blablacar’s distributed model allowed teams from other countries Maintain the operational platform in Spain so that it would not register incidents once the service was restored, avoiding delays in its implementation as it happened In the railway sector. “The next Tuesday was the day that the most reservations made in Blablacar in more than 15 years in Spain”, due to the need for urgent displacement of those who They had stayed halfway of his destinations because of the blackout. “Another advantage we had was that, part of the user service team that attends in Spanish, works from France and other countries,” although Spain’s staff of Spain was not operational, users who had coverage could solve their incidents normally. In Xataka | Companies that have eliminated teleworking are facing a big problem: they take longer to cover their vacancies Image | Unspash (Dmitry Grachyov)

The north of Spain has been complaining about mass tourism for years. Asturias has discovered the bitter consequences of losing it

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The formula of nature, calm and good kitchen that for years promoted Rural tourism In Asturias It seems to lose bellows. AND clearly. Although the photo of recent years is distorted by COVID, the housing of the principality specialized in this type of tourism have seen how His activity descended until they were driving before the pandemic. At least according to INE data. It is not so much a “puncture” in the flow of travelers and in that of the rooms (They last less) and the loss of interest in the national market. The phenomenon is interesting because it coincides with another or even more media: complaints in a large part of the peninsular northern ( Galicia to Cantabria or in your own Asturias) For precisely the opposite, the effects of tourist massification. While in Cantabria they cry for not being “The North Ibiza” And Galicia complains about The “fodechinchos”inside and the Asturian mountain the hoteliers cry out for measures that avoid the slow decline of rural tourism. An icon in low hours. A quick search arrives on Google to verify that rural tourism does not go through its best moment in Asturias. TO The news of the Regional Press about The fall of activity those in the sector claiming are added “Specific aids” and those of the Principality trying to reassure him. In fact, in January Adrián Barbón He promised to “rethink” rural tourism of the region “to recover thrust.” Shortly after its executive announced a Bond program With discounts designed to encourage demand. That the situation of the sector arouses so much interest in the Principality is more than understandable. In the mid -80s, and thanks largely to your campaign “Asturias Paraíso Natural”the community managed to make a place in a sector in which until then the tourism of Sun and beach prevailed. Today Asturias adds hundreds of establishments with thousands of places (in August the INE computed almost 1,400 and 14,800respectively) and stands out for its volume of rural houses per capita. What do the data say? That the sector has known better times. The INE shows that last year the Rural Accommodations of Asturias received some 304,000 travelers who paid for 924,400 overnight stays. The first data is not exactly bad. It is a slight increase of 1.7% compared to 2023 and is online of 2019. The second worries. In a Growth scenario The number of hired nights fell 3.2% year -on -year and remains away from the almost 975,000 overnight stays that the sector managed in 2019. The 2025 start has not been especially good. During the first quarter the volume of travelers and overnight stays fell with respect to last year, although the data should be handled cautiously. First because in 2024 Holy Week, a period of strong tourist demand, fell in March and this year did so in April. Second because There may be variations important from one month to another. In fact the Principality He has checked already for the growth of February. “Very black winter”. The truth is that the sector is far from satisfied. Recently the president of the EO-Porcia association implied in An interview with eldiario.es that the balance has been of everything but good in recent months. “50% of the peoples that are still inhabited today are for rural tourism. Fixed population and allows you I recognized. In its own accommodations, three apartments and a house, it did not register any reserve between the Bridge of the Constitution and last Holy Week. Looking for the causes. The big question is … What are you due to these data from the sector, especially overnight stays? Why if in August 2001 the average stay In rural accommodations, was 6.13 days passed to 4.76 in 2019 and 4.24 last year? For Ana Llanoof the Fuentes del Narcea Association, one of the keys is the change in demand. Tourists are looking for different things today during their vacations. Or rather, it does so at a different rhythm and way. “Before people came to spend the summer, to spend a few days in nature, to enjoy the house themselves. Now people want regrets In eldiario.es. His comment is in tune with the data on the duration of the rooms and another key indicator: the overnight stays fall in the rural one, but grow in the set of Asturias. “They end rural tourism”. To that challenge others are added: the de -stationalization, the need to enrich the offer with packages or the competition of other types of accommodation, such as Tourist housing (VUT) or the “illegal establishments” that (precisely by acting outside the administration) also blur the balance of the sector. There are those who speak of tens only between Vegadeo and Navia and who focuses the focus on the VUT. “They are ending rural tourism,” they said recently From the sector to The voice. Foreign lifeguard. The general photo leaves another interesting nuance. Asturian rural accommodations may be invoiced today less overnight than before pandemic, but that fall is mainly due to domestic demand. The nights hired by Spaniards fall, but those reserved by tourists from outside the country have grown considerably. With that backdrop last autumn the Principality launched A campaign aimed above all to the Asturian themselves. His slogan: “Are you sure you know Asturias?” When tourism does not arrive. The case of Asturias is interesting for something else. Between record tourism data and with the open debate on the effect of the sector on the real estate market, over the last years in much of Spain they have happened The protests against tourist. Especially in points such as the Canary Islands or Balearic Islands, but also in areas of the North, including Galicia or Cantabria, where the saturation of certain points has become a matter of debate. The Asturian rural and interior situation leaves a key question: what happens when tourism stops arriving or comes less? What if the Fodechinchos Do they stop traveling or areas that have developed … Read more

The reason why electricity took more than 15 hours to restore 100% in Spain: the feared “Black Start”

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The Iberian Peninsula went out at 12:33 of April 28. In just five seconds, two southwest disconnections of the peninsula They removed more than half of the instant demand from the network. The frequency collapsed and interconnection with France jumped by instability. Spain stayed at 0 MW and 0 Hz, never seen. Resting the service was the real challenge. 15 hours of surgical work. At 03:30 on Tuesday, Red Eléctrica, the Spanish electrical system operator, announced that 99.95% of the demand was covered again (100% was not reached until the afternoon in the afternoon). Spain starred in greater practical exercise of replacement of a European network From the great continental blackout of 2006, The first on this scale from a country that obtains its energy mainly from renewable sources. The dreaded Black Start. Turn on the light out of nowhere, start the zero power grid. With 50 million users, Spain has faced One of the most challenging cases of “Black Start” They are remembered. He needed 15 hours because he had to go step by step, first starting the most flexible plants: hydroelectric plants, enabled for Black Start with diesel structure to feed pumps, valves and control systems). Mainless Spain redeemed. With 10% of the Spanish mix and 25% of the Portuguese, the pumping hydraulics was the first ammunition: The hydroelectric plants of the Muela and Aldeadávila They synchronized in three minutes, moving from zero to 3 GW. Each central created its 50 Hz “island” (the frequency at which the turbines have to turn) before introducing load. Red Electric was connecting the turbines one by one and introducing load in a dosing way so as not to stop them. Gas for climbing. With the nuclear off (except for the imported of France, which provided 1.4 GW of power in the replacement), the gas plants became the backbone of the network before reincorporating renewables. Monday’s wind was almost calm and the photovoltaic disappeared at nightfall, so the weight fell on water and gas. Morocco injected several hundred MW who were critical to start plants in Andalusia. As for nuclear. The automatic cut of five of the seven reactors generated a radio traffic jam: the xenon-135 accumulated after a sudden stop absorbs neutrons and blocks the reaction for 24-48 h. 32 hours after the blackout, No nuclear had yet been synchronized. That 3-4 GW hole synchronous forced to squeeze hydraulics and gas and delayed total recovery. The fuses jumped. When the blackout occurred, more than 70% of the generation was renewable (37% solar, 32% wind). 3.4 GW of nuclear energy, 1.6 GW of cycles and 1.4 GW of cogeneration provided the synchronous inertia of the network, but were not enough to compensate for the disconnection of two stations. Neither The interconnected network was enough to sustain the frequency (only 3 GW with France and 700 MW with Morocco). The substations acted as giant fuses against imbalance and isolated the network to avoid catastrophic damage. That is why it is said that Spain and Portugal are energy islands, despite being in the same network as the rest of European countries. Some lessons. With high renewable quotas, which They do not have the inertia of other energy sources To stabilize the network, it takes a greater resilience than the European electricity grid. In other words, invest in investors at network level, batteries and renewable synchronous (biomass or more pumping hydraulics). As well as in better interconnections. All this is planned, but it was not on time to avoid the blackout and the Black Start. Image | Electric Red In Xataka | We have just lived the first great blackout of the renewable era. The debate is now how to get the last one

There was a time when even the shampoos or the Pokéball had a radio. And Spain has rediscovered by force

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The blackout that Spain suffered Last Monday, April 28, with still unknown causeleft a very learning: The radio It was by far the best means to inform yourself Before the crisis. The stations survived the cuts thanks to electrogen equipment and the spotlights of the Spaniards allowed to be aware of the situation. During the hours after the blackout, Tiktok became a stranger transistor showcase. The Radio-Ranathe radio-barbieradios that They emulate those of past centuries… Spanish being Spanish, as we usually do The golden age of the transistor. Between the mid -50s and the end of the 80s the radio became a key medium thanks to the transistor. A cheap electronic device, small and easy to implement in any device. The radio was The most immediate medium To know the news, and the big companies began to obsess with providing this technology to their products. The solution was easy: turn your objects into radios. A cultural phenomenon. Having a radio at home was part of pop culture and was synonymous with modernity, a train to which the big (mainly American) began to join from the 60s. They began to integrate radios into watches, briefcases, coca-cool bottles, hair dryers, backpacks … and even shampoo boats. The radio became more a claim than a real utility with the popularization of TV and the Internet entered the 90s. The most rocambolesque radios. The blackout has left us dozens of videos and memes related to the most hilarious transistors. Some that demonstrate the fever in Spain with these products and, particularly, the resistance to the time they have. An HS shampoo, an informative Pokéball, or the Pizza Hut radius in collaboration with Cocacola for 25 years ago that my partner Rubén had in the drawer. Immune devices to programmed obsolescence and with the only need for a few AA batteries to function. A profitable market. Rescue HS shampoo It has a price of 75 euros on eBay. A Darth Vader head with Radio exceeds 100and a mini Coca-Cola fridge with radio included It costs about 30 euros. The radio culture, lives more than 100 years after its invention, has been the best evidence that Current technology is not infallible, And that there are inventions that far from being obsolete, have not yet been overcome. Image | eBay In Xataka | If you want to see series on blackouts, it makes all the meaning: fictions help explain us reality

Of course ‘the Simpsons’ also predicted the great blackout of Spain. At this point you have stopped having merit

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Any relevant event in the history of humanity in recent decades It has previously appeared in ‘The Simpsons’. It is a phrase made, almost a meme that has acquired the category of popular wisdom and that is counted between the oldest collective knowledge samples of the digital era. Of course, Monday’s blackout in Spain and Portugal has become part of the long list of ‘The Simpsons’ predictions: it is neither very tight nor very accurate, but that does not prevent the myth from continuing to fatter. The blackout in ‘The Simpsons’. A couple of episodes that make supposed reference to the Backman last Monday. In ‘The last day of Springfield’, issued in 1998the city runs out of light, with traffic lights and unusable phones, and the nuclear plant where Homer works. Of course, chaos and anarchy take over the streets, something that did not happen here. Besides, In 2023 it was issued The episode ‘How beautiful is to pipify it’, where Springfield suffers a blackout for a fire in the nuclear plant. Here the consequences are almost apocalyptic, and Lisa tells the story in the distant future, explaining that the city lights candles every year to commemorate the events. The explanation of the prophecy. Either simple: These two blackouts do not make any reference to Spain or to the date on which it occurred. Simply, they are blackheads that end up leading to the Apocalypse, a trope of science fiction that have exploited recent series such as ‘Blackout’ or ‘The collapse’, or the movie ‘Leave the world behind’, but which we have also seen in very previous films: ‘The domino effect’ is one of the most notorious, but there are also based on real blackouts, such as ‘Blackout in New York’ or ‘Summer of Sam’ of which the American city suffered in 1977. Why ‘The Simpsons’ always succeed. According to Matt SelmanExecutive producer of the series, it is a mixture of knowing how to use the probabilities, historical knowledge and the study of human trends. The scriptwriters investigate in the past and extrapolate, until they end up. Or in another way more simpsonian, study and satirize “the stupidities of the past” to anticipate their repetition. They are logical extrapolations to which the impressive longevity of the series is added, which only multiply the possibility of coincidences, which is known as “Large numbers law“: The more episodes there is, the more likely the apparently unlikely becomes. When the phenomenon began. The meme began to popularize in the middle of the first decade of this century. Without a doubt, the first great impact of the series was the alleged prediction of the attacks of the Twin Towers. It was in the episode of 1997 ‘New York City vs. Homer Simpson ‘, where a brochure with number 9 appears and the twin towers forming a 11. It was interpreted as a reference to 11-S, although The explanation is very simple: The two towers together resemble a 11, the chance is that the attacks were on that date, and not to guess ‘The Simpsons’. Predictions for all tastes. Since then, ‘The Simpsons’ have predicted the future, and the truth is that sometimes the coincidences are stupid. In season 11, for example, the presidency of Donald Trump was mentioned, and in 10, the purchase of Fox by Disney (clear examples that the predictions are possible if an acute satirist observes carefully observes the signs that the current one sends). The complete list is virtually infinite: smartwatchesthe video calls, the performance of Lady Gaga in the Super Bowl, the Higgs Boson formula (amazingly close to the real), the three -eyed fish in the contaminated waters of Springfield, and a highly contagious epidemic that begins in Asia. We want fictions to explain it to us. We already told it A collation of the ‘Blackout’ series and how your search has become a trend after the real blackout: our thought is structured to look for significant patterns and connections between facts, even when these are the result of chance. These patterns help us explain what we do not understand or the phenomena that are rationally inconceivable or surpass us, and are marked by narratives, series and movies. And that ‘The Simpsons’ anticipate incomprehensible phenomena (such as the 11-S attack or Donald Trump’s triumph) helps us to rationalize them. Header | Disney In Xataka | Disney+ has had an idea: to broad

If Spain wants to save the countryside, you already know what you have to do: precision agriculture

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Increase in costs, water and climatic problems, European regulations, ecological demands, pests, retirement, lack of labor, industrial crisis, international competition … The Spanish field accumulates the problems and, instead, the solutions are scarce. Above all, because the only medium term is clear, but carrying it out is devilishly difficult: precision agriculture. What is precision agriculture? As I remembered a couple of days ago, Manuel F. HerradorProfessor at the UDC Civil Engineering School, he always says that, in the future, experts will be horrified how much of our way of building was summed up in two words: Brute Force. They are the same words that perfectly define agriculture of the last decades. ‘Precision agriculture’ is an elegant way to say that we are trying to change it. And it is not easy. Especially since the main problem of standard agriculture is that it is an activity that continues to develop in open systems. That is, environments “almost unpredictable and full of risk in which Two nights of frost mean losses of up to 9 million euros“ Efforts to improve agriculture have historically focused on “break that opening“. Since 1850, when in the Netherlands they began to use greenhouses at the productive level, the key strategy has been to create physically closed environments. In Spain, we know a lot about this. The problem is that the greenhouse strategy is not enough. Is there alternative? The other option is to inform the ecosystems in which we work. Today, thanks to agronometric satellites, We have capable technology to monitor in real time pests, diseases or water distribution. We can do it, in fact, with a 30 centimeter resolution (and with drones we could improve it to almost ridiculous limits). We can also manage crops efficiently and personalized. And the promise of that management is enormous: “A PWC study for the Business Association for Plant Protection (AEPLA) estimates that boosting precision agriculture could increase agricultural production by more than 54,000 million euros up to 2050”. We talk about a productivity eight times higher than the current one. So much? Well, as I say, that is “the promise.” As Roberto Ruiz saidBBVA agricultural business, it is “better controlling supplies, to better control fertilizers, phytosanitary products, etc.” The potential is huge; The real impact depends on many factors. But it is important to keep in mind that we are not talking about a futuristic. We carry more than A decade with solutions of this type and the results are beginning to arrive. And why don’t we move towards that world? That is the big question, right? Spain is an agroganadero giant and has been going through more than important problems for years … Why is the evolution of the field so slow? Nobody see that time runs out? And the truth is that they see it. But the situation is very uncertain and the lack of generational relief atenza a good part of the sector in a stagnation that is difficult to leave. From there arise phenomena like Lto financing the field: phenomena capable of solving many of these issues, but that drag your own (and huge) problems. Spain plays its agricultural future in the coming years. The good news is that we know what the way is. Image | Jed Owen In Xataka | Murcia is being filled with “ghost agricultural companies”: they arrive, exhaust the resources of the territory and go

After the mass blackout of Spain he feared looting and security problems. Reality was very different

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Nor pillage. Nor Latrocinio. No chaos unleashed in the streets. Although most of the country stayed yesterday to two candles (literally) and Thousands of Spaniards They went to sleep yet without electricity in their homes and businesses, on April 28, 2025 will not go down in history because it is a day of chaos. Not everything was An oil raftof course, but this morning the Interior Ministry He underlined that the night has been “quiet”, “without remarkable security incidents.” Nothing that the country has not already lived during the pandemic, when Spain already demonstrated its obedience during the alarm states to stop the COVID-19. That almost a country is based black (in energy terms), as happened on Monday at 12.33 h in Spain, it obviously has multiple derivatives. It affects the industry. It affects trade. It affects mobility and education. And affects security. Yesterday the government declared The national emergency in eight communities and one of the issues that was in the public debate during the first hours was precisely The media deployment To guarantee security. “Security problems” “Madrid has 9,000 streets, 3.5 million inhabitants … If a city is these dimensions, we are all aware, we are all aware that they can give Security problems at very diverse and different points “, warned In the afternoon the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida. Without electricity, many businesses were left without a dataphone, but also without surveillance or automatic systems that allow them to close their premises. The fear of looting and robberies during the blackout even led some merchants to monitor their stores. In Ayamonte, Huelva, there were who The night passed In their businesses unable to lower the blinds and in Granada the newspaper Ideal speaks of entrepreneurs in a similar situation that resisted to leave their premises. “People take advantage of to steal and we have no system here that allows us to ensure the store,” admitted a ABC The clerk of a store in the center of Madrid while waiting for the supply to be restored. His suspicion was understandable. Click on the image to go to Tweet. After the Dana de Valencia there were those who took advantage of chaos to make looting and take home batteries, sports material, telephones or consoles, for example, sometimes even with truck help. Only the night from October 30 the National Police arrested 39 people During a surveillance campaign in commercial areas and weeks later, in mid -November, the number of detainees for looting in the areas affected by the rains over 400. It is not even necessary that an event as devastating as the DANA of Valencia occurs. In 1977 New York lived An electric cut which lasted for a day and resulted in a “night of terror”, in the words of the magazine Timewith the looting of more than 1,615 storesmore than 1,000 fires, around 4,000 detainees and hundreds of injured police. A few weeks ago Before a mass blackout also affected much of Chile, the Buric government chose to decree the state of exception and imposed a curfew between ten and six in the morning. In Spain the authorities also chose reinforce securityalthough without reaching such drastic measures. The Government Precise that between Monday and Tuesday they deployed through the country More than 30,000 agents of the National Police and Civil Guard, to which other forces of autonomic and local bodies are added. Click on the image to go to Tweet. In Catalonia Los Mossos d’esquadra They lengthened shifts and activated a night security plan with something More than 7,200 agentswhile there were cities that also increased their local endowments. In Vigo The mayor said Yesterday that the Local Police would triple their efforts and at night 13 municipal patrols would be deployed, to which almost twenty nationals would be added. What has been the balance? A relative tranquility. At least if one takes into account that, although part of the country began to recover electricity within a few hours, there have been cities that took More than 14 hours in having light and the day was marked by Communications problems and traffic lights. The total alert balance is not yet known, but inner speaks of a “quiet night and without remarkable incidents of security or public order” and both the Mayor of Madrid like that of Barcelona They have highlighted the “civism” of their neighbors. “The Madrid have shown that they give their best in the most difficult moments. In front of the blackout, a lesson of civility,” Almeida presumes. That does not mean that the last hours have been An oil raft. Eldiario speaks Of robbery attempts, activated alarms and “some” burning containers in localities of Andalusia and in the city of the emergency services had attended in the afternoon Double of calls of the usual, although Many incidents They were related to people trapped in elevators or people with mobility problems. In Other cities From the country and less inhabitants, the dripping of notices to the authorities throughout the day was also intense. The most graphic answer He has given it However, this morning, Mayor José Luis Martínez- Almeida when they have asked him about how the night had gone in the capital, in which, he says, only a reysta and a launa was recorded. “Quieter than anyone”, summarizes the councilor from Madrid. Image | Xataka In Xataka | We still do not know what caused the blackout in Spain, but experts already dispute a theory: the role of renewables

Without traffic lights for the blackout, Spain lived a real libertarian experiment of mobility. And it went quite well

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And at 12:32 p.m. on April 28, 2025, Spain went black. We knew almost immediately when connections with our partners were cut of work. Computers with the Black screentrains stopped in the tunnels, frozen elevators between plants and on the street … on the street a normal life. More or less. Because beyond the tails in the Mercadona and the children running and shouting through the courtyard of school at abnormally late hours, traffic more or less flowed. No available trainsthe passengers jumped to shot traffic. In private cars, in public buses and making horsetop. More or less, at greater or lesser speed, Traffic continued flowing. Yes, we have seen that in the center of the big cities such as Madrid or Barcelona, ​​the main roads soon getting stuck. But it is also true that traffic worked with relative calm there in many other parts. It was the confirmation that traffic can flow if we put a little all on our part. And it is the confirmation of why there are those who design cross -free crossings. Traffic lights in Granada on April 28, 2025 during the national blackout A little please On March 17, 1926, almost 100 years ago, Madrid installed the first traffic light in Spain. He arrived to make “a more rational use of private cars and generally favor that of public transport, in addition to making citizen coexistence more pleasant and contributing to a greater and safer use of the street for pedestrians”, as read on municipal sides of the time. Who was going to tell us that almost a century later, the radio would concatenate connections by Spanish cities in which the return of the light to the traffic lights of the street was celebrated. It was enough to hit the ear to the transistor to feel some relief in the voice of the reporters who finally pointed out that the light had returned to the traffic lights. With the traffic lights it seemed to return normality. That red light that prohibits the passage to whoever crosses my path and leaves me free. That amber light that warns me of danger but It seems that it only shouts that accelerates. But what if normality remained without traffic lights? It is what happened in most of the country. Without lights to regulate traffic, cordiality, negotiation was imposed and we did not have to regret serious incidents. The supposed anarchy never became such and putting all on our part took control of the streets. “We install traffic lights to promote fluidity and increase speed, against negotiation and In many cases we do the opposite“The words were expressed by Román Torre, a member of the XIXONÉS OF MOBILITY and author of various articles related to mobility in cities. On your tweetreferred to a crossing in which it is observed how vehicles circulate with total fluidity. Of course, it is not a crossing with the volume of traffic that we can find in the North Zone of Madrid which, everything is said, It usually stuck with and without traffic lights. And, in fact, the tower itself indicates at the end of the thread that it is a solution “that is not worth all sites.” Click on the image to go to the original tweet However, the video does show that on many occasions the fluidity of the traffic is guaranteed without traffic lights. And, the best thing is that it is not only guaranteed, it is also a safer solution. If there are no lights, the driver is obliged to reduce the speed when approaching a crossing because he does not have the traffic light safety network guaranteeing a free track. At lower speed, a possible clash is more unlikely, it would have lower consequences and, in addition, the possibility of an outrage are reduced. The DGT contemplates How to act at intersections without priority of passage But just watch a video recorded yesterday to check how the negotiation It is imposed to give way to each car little by little, Without slowing traffic. It is something that has been studied and applied in the Netherlands. An example is that of Alexanderplein in the center of Amsterdam. There, after various studiesit was decided to eliminate traffic lights and found that despite living cyclists and trams, traffic fluidity is better than without the lights that supposedly manage traffic. The secret is to observe the rest of the traffic agents. Something similar is what is applied in Groningen where the maximum has applied for years “All green” for cyclists at 29 intersections of the city. Fully closing traffic to cars for a few seconds, it was found that if bicycles are allowed to circulate total freedom (a similar experience to do it without traffic lights) traffic is more fluid. One of the reasons is undoubtedly low speed that circulates that facilitates making decisions in very little space and, therefore, fluidity when taking one or another way. That controlled chaos is possible thanks to the fact that we move “As we would behave if we were pedestrians”, In Ford words. The company presented some time ago a solution to take advantage of communication between vehicles to eliminate traffic lights and, with them, unnecessary waiting. Without lights regulating traffic, ensures that autonomous cars They can move with total tranquility Because they reduce speed when they reach intersections and movements are safer. The point is that what humans live yesterday. Torre explains in Migijón That the absence of lights causes drivers to take the initiative when crossing the intersection instead of “obeying” the green or red light. This prevents trumpeting with a stop, an acceleration and a new detention on the next street. Obviously, without traffic lights, the car stops but applying some negotiation between drivers, the arrests are much shorter as it can be seen in their videos. Much of the secret is in that reduction in speed when approaching the intersection. No traffic light, the driver must circulate more slowly and … Read more

Charlie Zhang, vice president of Omoda and Jaecoo, about success in Spain

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Ten Spanish journalists enter the glazed room of The huge central headquarters of Omoda and Jaecoo in Wuhu, China. After a few minutes of informal talk in front of small masts with flags from China and Spain, Charlie Zhang, Vice President of Chery, the matrix appears. Zhang wears current glasses, almost military haircut, ironed navy suit, buttoned white shirt without twins. Naked dolls and fingers except a Apple Watch Series 10. Classic black shoes. Nothing in his outfit shouts ostentation. Everything in its bearing transmits control. “This man reminds us,” I think, “that it is the management of the kingdom and not the luxury of his scepter that does to the king.” Breaking stereotypes I start the group interview myself asking what the greatest change in the perception of Western consumers towards Chinese cars in the last year, thinking about persistent stereotypes around them. You don’t need to think about it: The stereotype has deflated at the speed of our sales. When we launched Omoda and Jaecoo in Spain, in February 2024, we feared some suspicion. Twelve months later we sell 2,000 units per month and receive floods of questions about our batteries and the semi -autonomous driving software. The manager assumes that certain reservations have not disappeared – “they still exist, although very attenuated” – but Underline a change of perception: quality is no longer questioned, but speed with which Chinese technology advances in batteries, lidar and pure electric. The room shalls timidly: it is difficult to contradict him after touring Chery’s stand in Shanghai. Why start with Spain and not by Germany or France, with more population and per capita income? Zhang himself alludes to our market as a “open entrance door” and confesses that the strategy has been deliberate: Curious and “open mind” consumers. Fragmented competition. And the possibility of release local production with the Ebro brand, the historic Spanish teaching Risen at the old Nissan plant in Barcelona. European factory and deployment The road map is ambitious: Phase 1 of the factory for 100,000 units per year and objective of 200,000 as soon as possible. And according to Zhang, they consider opening a second factory in Europe. The beginning of the production of the omoda 5 EV and the JAECOO 5 EV It is scheduled for November of this year. That capacity, emphasizes, will be key to avoiding tariffs and meet the European demand of 40 % of components produced in the old continent. The current and future catalog will be like this: Omoda: Present: Omoda 5. In 2025: omoda 7 and Omoda 9. Propulsions: gasoline, HEV hybrid, PHEV plug -in hybrid and 100% Electric Bev. Jaecoo: Present: Jaecoo 7. In 2025: Jaecoo 5 and Jaecoo 8. Propulsions: same four variants that omods. Ebro: Present: S700 and S800. In 2025: S400 and S900. Propulsions: Phev and Hev. Each of these new teachers will have independent general directions in Spain (as already happens with Ebro in front of the Omoda-Jaecoo duo), allowing internal competition that seeks to maximize market penetration. The manager stops in the three acronyms that are marked his recent releases: SHS, Super Hybrid System: Dedicated Atkinson Cycle Motor, 44.5% thermine efficiency (in development it is to reach 48%) and batteries of 18 to 34 kWh that would carry the real electrical autonomy of omoda 9 to 150 km. “The border between A PHEV AND A BEV It is blurred, “proclaims. It is not hyperbole: recharge times promise 400 kilometers in ten minutes thanks to the 800 V architecture, and semi -solid battery prototypes circulate at its table after 2027. Image: Xataka. It comes out in the conversation, of course, the tariff issue and research Antidumping Open in Brussels. Zhang is pragmatic: Plan a: negotiate a “minimum price” to avoid tariff increase. Plan b: produce in the EU (Barcelona first, another floor later) and reach 60% European content with suppliers such as Bosch or Faurecia. Plan c: Assess “strategic alliances” with hurry manufacturers. When listening to options like Ford or especially Stellantishe responds with a smile and an ambiguous “everything is on the table.” The bet, he insists, is “for Europe, in Europe.” And behind another idea beats: be perceived as industrial employers, not only as importers. The group has also confirmed the launch in Europe of new brands: ICAR It will be something that they will “try” to bring at the end of the year, with their pure electric and extended autonomy (REEV). Exlatixthe group’s premium brand will first reach Nordic countries in 2026 and subsequently to Spain. Although without a precise date, its launch seems safe, but we will have to wait. LEPAS It would arrive after Exlatix, with a totally electrified range through its 4, 6 and 8 models and Luxeedwhich would be the last, towards the end of 2026, would arrive with several electric and extended autonomy models: S7 and R7, direct competitors of Tesla with brutal interior finishes that we could try first hand. Almost in the end I ask another question: where they are paying better omoda and Jaecoo, both worldwide and European. In the world, the United Kingdom leads with 3,000 units per month just six months after its launch. Malaysia is also giving joys thanks to the 1,200 monthly sales of Jaecoo 7 Phev and its extended autonomy. Brazil, Chile and Peru also deserve their mention thanks to the “exceptional reaction” to their recent landing. In continental Europe, Spain – Spain – leads, and Poland and Italy follow our wake. Germany and France will arrive in the second half of this year through its own subsidiaries, because, according to Zhang, “to call us Europeans we need to sell where six out of ten cars are enrolled.” Zhang also specifies concrete objectives for Spain: moving from the current 2,000 monthly units of Omoda and Jaecoo between 4,000 and 5,000, while Ebro are expected between 2,000 and 3,000 per month. Image: Xataka. Zhang advances to the question about hydrogen: The fuel battery already rolls … in Chery heavy … Read more

While almost all Spain immersed in chaos, a place continued to function normally: Mercadona

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We are on Monday, April 28, 2025. Spain suffers the effects of a Mass blackout which has a good part of the country’s industry and commerce. All? No! A Valencian chain of irreducible supermarkets remains open and even speaks of “normality” in the middle of the chaos. His name: Mercadona. Under his label, the lack of supply that yesterday stopped the activity of other chains in the sector resulted in something different: Customer queues, Full carts and razed baldas. His They were not the only premises that followed at the foot of the canyon (Carrefour, Alcampo or El Corte Inglés had operational establishments), but it did stand out on a key front: neighborhood stores, closer to the citizen, which gave it considerable visibility. The big question is … How did he do it? Of blackouts and urgent purchases. If something demonstrated the pandemic, just five years ago, it is that the Spaniards do not like to play it. In exceptional situations, such as the announcement of an alarm or A mass blackout that leaves much of the peninsula without electricity for hours, we leave home, we go to the supermarket and We buy what is necessary To fill our fridge. Even in days like yesterday in which the fridge served rather. X is a barbarian mirror of that answer. A quick search shows tens of videos of saturated stores, long lines, empty shelves And people with loaded carts of water carafes. The funny thing is that all these videos are recorded in the same place: Mercadona. That the images have left some of their 1,600 establishments It is not surprising. Roig’s premises were operational and with supply while those of other firms in the sector They remained closed. “The bunkers would be landowned”. The situation was so curious and in a way he remembered the first days of the pandemic, that there were those who threw a sneer in networks. “Spain collapsed and Mercadona today running even with datáphones”, He joked in x Álvaro Wasabi. “If Fallout’s apocalypse was fulfilled, zero doubts that bunkers would be landowned.” “Mercadona when something extraordinary occurs and people believe they should buy toilet paper for 50 years,” Comments Nebreda Italohispano Next to an image of a pool crowded with people. “As with each catastrophe, the only one who has won with the #Cortedeluz is Mercadona,” Add in another tweet Eduardo Bernal. A unique case? No. Mercadona is perhaps the chain that has generated more expectation and comments in networks, but It is not the only that yesterday managed to keep operational at least part of his network of stores. The English Court was also able to open department stores thanks to the use of structure, as well as Alcampo or Carrefour, who served in hypermarkets and part of his supermarkets. Other chains did not run the same fate with wide implementation in Spain, such as Lidl, Eroski or Day, than They were forced To lower the blind at least its smallest stores. Precisely if something has made the networks look at Mercadona is that it managed to maintain local neighborhood operations, not only large hypermarkets located in polygons or the outskirts of the cities. But and that … why? In Xataka we have contacted Mercadona to know which equipment they have exactly in their stores and how they could keep them active in the mass blackout. Waiting for these clarifications, the company’s environment has already sliding Some clues. The key is in its generators, which at least in a good number of stores allowed to maintain the uploaded blinds, operational boxes and even make charges with dataphone, an impossible option in other businesses and that made yesterday The cash was imposed (very briefly) to payment with cards or mobile. “Today we open”. In the last hours the company assured to Expansion that all their places were “open” and functioning with “normality.” Moreover, while other stores were forced to close the doors waiting for the supply to be reactivated, the abnormality in the Mercadona premises was marked by a different reality: a customer “boom”. This morning the company A tweet uploaded With photos of his shelves answered and a message: “Today we open.” Adapting to the stage. One of the keys to Mercadona’s response, says one of his employees to Xataka, is his flexibility when adapting. The stores could work thanks to the existence of their own generators, but that does not mean that (at least in some cases) the operation was the “normal”: automatic tapes were dispensed with in the boxes and part of the merchandise took the cameras to avoid spoiling and saving energy consumption. “Under minimums tried to leave essential things,” he explains. “Everything works. What happens is that the consumption is minimized to serve the customer (…). The lights were more faint than usual to save also.” Refrigerators. “The refrigerators have been emptying them throughout the day to get into the refrigeration chamber or in the frozen and be able to turn them off and that only large cameras work, which is where more merchandise can be maintained in good condition,” details the same employee. “As that merchandise is removed, the refrigerators are turned off to save electricity.” At least in its store, he recounts, the company has consulted employees if they could enter a little earlier than usual to recover normality. Bathroom tails and prepared dishes. That Mercadona remained operational while other businesses were forced to close the door turned their premises, in a way, more than supermarkets. After visiting one of the stores in the center of Barcelona, ​​a reporter of The country He spoke yesterday In the afternoon of queues in the bathrooms and people eating dishes prepared in tables with stools. Images | Xataka In Xataka | The blackout in Spain has demonstrated which is the ideal means to inform in a crisis: the radio

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