Movilidad Sobre Ruedas

April 10, 2026·55 min·4 clips

Hyundai's 22-year 'Desert of Children' project takes electric cars to Morocco to aid remote villages while testing vehicle reliability.

1. Movilidad sobre Ruedas on Capital Radio, hosted by Chimo Ortega, covers the 22nd edition of the Children's Desert charity expedition and a live legal challenge against Renfe's plan to enter the bus market. 2. The Children's Desert guests are Nacho Salvador (founder and route organiser), Ana Martínez (humanitarian logistics co-ordinator), and Santiago de la Rocha, head of press at Hyundai Spain. 3. Two work-experience students from Isabel la Católica school — Eloy and Julia Elvira — serve as in-studio co-presenters for the first segment. 4. The Children's Desert is a 22-year-old initiative that started as a feature of all-terrain magazine Auto Verde and now operates independently as an association, with routes through Morocco. 5. Hyundai has provided electric vehicles for four years: three years with the IONIQ 5 and this year with the IONIQ 9, with Santi describing the transition as proof that EV desert travel is viable. 6. Hyundai installed 12 kilowatt chargers at each hotel in the Xaluca chain in southern Morocco, which Santi describes as the first meaningful step toward electrifying the route's infrastructure. 7. This year's expedition sponsored two disability associations in Morocco, bringing gym rehabilitation equipment including treadmills and static bicycles to centres serving people with physical and intellectual disabilities. 8. The association completed an artificial turf football pitch at a school in Ramlia, a village accessible only by difficult dirt track that mainstream tourism does not reach. 9. A three-year permitting process is ongoing for a well near Fez; Nacho explains that Moroccan bureaucracy moves slowly and heavy rains also delayed construction, but the project will be finished. 10. Date palm trees planted near Fez are expected to produce dates within years, providing villagers with an ongoing income source and reducing pressure to migrate to cities. 11. Ana Martínez describes a shift in humanitarian methodology: from arriving and distributing goods randomly to working all year with local associations, distributing on demand, and tracking what communities actually request. 12. The town of Hucina, which was depopulating 22 years ago, has reversed its decline and is now growing again — cited by the hosts as the clearest evidence that sustained multi-year support changes demographic trajectories. 13. The 2024 expedition included 42 cars and approximately 150 people; the organisers cap participation at 40 cars to preserve the communal atmosphere, and the website filled up in under a week without any social media announcement. 14. A logistical incident during the trip involved two electric IONIQs losing track of the convoy, ending up 30 km from camp on a sand-dune track with no mobile coverage, but the group located them via shared GPS and the cars' hybrid electric torque helped them climb out of the dunes. 15. ANETRA director Carmen González explains that on March 3, Renfe Viajeros published a framework agreement seeking a private bus company to hold 51% of a new mixed company, with Renfe holding 49%, to run alternative bus services when rail is suspended. 16. ANETRA and FENADISMER both filed legal challenges including precautionary suspension requests; the Central Administrative Court of Contractual Resources accepted the suspension, effectively pausing the tender process. 17. González argues the existing sector has 2,700 companies and 49,000 vehicles with geographic capillarity that is structurally better suited to point-of-need emergency transport than any single new company. 18. She uses the phrase 'killing flies with a cannon': Renfe identified a real operational difficulty but chose to create a new entity rather than improve procurement with existing providers. 19. The programme alternates between warm, nostalgic storytelling in the Children's Desert segment and more technical, procedural language in the ANETRA segment, reflecting the dual audience of mobility professionals and general listeners. 20. Listeners interested in Spanish transport regulation or CSR in emerging markets will find both segments substantive; listeners expecting a pure automotive news format may find the humanitarian segment unexpectedly long.

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