E-Mobility in Europe

Efforts towards the promotion of sustainable mobility across Europe need to be supported by technological, political and strategic decisions. In the field of technology, the quest for sustainable mobility can be greatly supported by use of electric vehicles. Apart from the well-known benefits related to reduction of CO₂ emissions, electric mobility may also contribute to reduced air pollution, less noise and thus an increase in the quality of life, especially in urban centres. This paper presents the experiences gathered as part of the project “North Sea Region Electric Mobility Network (E-Mobility NSR)”, co-financed by the Interreg IVB North Sea Programme, with the aim of promoting electric mobility in the North Sea Region (NSR). The main objectives of the project are described, along with its structure, partnership and a set of results reached to date. The paper is complemented by an overview of future needs and opportunities, so as to further support the development of electric mobility policies and practices in the North Sea Region.

This paper addresses and explores the different strategies governments pursue to support the introduction of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs). This paper presents findings from a European research project that mapped current policies in eight countries, with California as a comparative case to contrast the European findings. The authors analysed the policy strategies that countries have put to practice and analyse how they have performed so far. Arguably, many countries appear to be on track to achieving their short-term goals; in that sense, EV policy is successful. However, once the longer term policy goals for e-mobility are taken into account, it is unlikely that the current policies will be sufficient. Therefore, the authors point out some lessons from current policies that may show a route into the next phase of the introduction of e-mobility. The paper is part of the Interreg e-mobility North Sea Region (E-Mobility NSR) partnership project, which is co-funded by the EU and participating countries/regions/organisations.

Electric vehicles of various manufacturers are being deployed throughout Europe. To recharge these vehicles, an infrastructure of rechargers is needed to enable charging at both private and public parking facilities. Throughout Europe, different charging protocols, plug designs and billing systems have been developed and introduced. In this chapter, the authors describe these standards and analyse the current situation in north-western Europe regarding the installed equipment and initiatives to realize national and international interoperability between currently isolated networks of chargers. The authors conclude that there is a problematic tension between early attempts to define national standards and the eventual need for international interoperability to enable cross-border travel with electric vehicles.

Electric mobility is an important means to decarbonise the transport sector. Especially in cities, the use of zero-emission vehicles like electric vehicles is favourable, as emissions of conventional cars cause severe air pollution. Besides CO₂, the most important emissions are nitric oxides, particular matter and noise. Given the trend of urbanisation, the problem of air pollution in large cities will rather grow than diminish. Although electric vehicles are an infrastructure-dependent technology, one important advantage of plug-in electric vehicles (EV) compared to hydrogen-powered vehicles is the possibility to use the existing electricity infrastructure in households for charging. While additional public charging infrastructure is also needed for interim charging or overnight charging for the so-called ‘on-street parkers’ without own garage, the majority of vehicles could be operated as EVs without additional public charging infrastructure. However, public charging infrastructure is an important component for the large-scale diffusion of electric vehicles and political action seems necessary since no business models are presently available. In the present paper the authors combine different data sets concerning German charging points and mobility patterns to describe the different needs for charging infrastructure, and provide an overview of the underlying different technical options. Based on the current charging infrastructure stock, the set-up methodology and the impact of user needs on charging infrastructure, the authors compare a coverage-oriented and a demand-oriented approach. The authors also estimate the number of public charging points for those two approaches. Finally, criteria for charging infrastructure are categorised and related to the different approaches. It results that the number of charging stations needed for the two different scenarios and the actual distribution of this predefined number of charging stations are answers to fundamentally different questions. As one consequence, an explicit statement on the number of charging stations needed on large scale (such as Germany) is difficult to make on the basis of (local) user demand.

It has been the German approach so far to not promote electromobility by direct subsidies but to organise large research projects, which should enable electromobility on Germany’s way to a technological leader in this field. A part of this is the ‘Modellregionen Elektromobilität’ programme, which is funded since 2009 by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI). The main focus is to make electromobility visible in everyday life, therefore funding fleets and testing a bunch of solutions for different fields in electromobility on the street. Since there are a lot of different projects in the eight regions, an accompanying research programme merges the results and thus can be seen as a multiplier. In the field of infrastructure, there is a lot of ongoing research. A research topic from the programme was the access, billing and technical requirements for the electric infrastructure. In addition, there is a big question the accompanying research addresses. The issue is, how to build up additional infrastructure on a demand-based basis, since it is still hard for manufacturers and service companies to find a business case—and it remains uncertain how much infrastructure will be needed in the future. This article provides some theoretical and practical rudiments based on the report of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI 2014a) to answer this, which are also tested in the shown demonstration projects. Generally spoken, the results are in consistency with other big funded programmes in Germany like first results of the Schaufenster-programme (BMVI 2014b) or the Fraunhofer Systemforschung (FhG).

This paper presents the next steps forward for a large-scale deployment of public charging infrastructure after the first round of infrastructure was mainly financed by government agencies over the last 3–5 years. In order to create a sustainable and market-driven public charging network, governments are increasingly looking for strategies to support the next generation of public charging infrastructure with creative financing mechanisms and limited public funding. The primary goal is to review and analyze the different models that are currently being tested in early adopter markets such as Norway, the Netherlands, California, and United States. Based on this early learning, identify possible business models for large-scale deployment of public charging infrastructure. This paper describes the challenges and opportunities in these early markets, identify six different (international) models for investing into public charging infrastructure and describe their individual advantages and disadvantages. By applying these models to California, a state that is actively involved in public policy development and introduction of electric vehicles, this paper identifies preferred financing models applying three different scenarios. The research provides insights into international comparison of deployment of public charging infrastructure and possible financial models. Based on a case study, the various advantages and disadvantages of these models are exemplified. Finally, suggestions are made for further research and modeling.

20,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on the road by 2015 and 200,000 EVs by 2020 … . This was regarded as an ambitious goal when it was declared in 2011, and yet the growth in the use of EVs in the Netherlands has seen rapid advancements. With more than 47,000 EVs on Dutch roads already in March 2015 the Netherlands is well on its way. Concerted efforts and initiatives were required to achieve this, among others, by the city of Amsterdam, which has been a frontrunner since 2009. Because e-mobility does not end at Amsterdam’s city limits, the project MRA-Electric (Amsterdam Metropolitan Area Electric, MRA-E) was initiated by the local authorities in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA) to stimulate, advise and assist in rolling out e-mobility in the region around Amsterdam. Essential to advancing e-mobility, and the use of e-cars, in particular, is a robust charging infrastructure, preferably powered by sustainable energy because the arguments for the environmental benefits of e-mobility rest largely on the source of the energy used to charge the batteries (http://​www.​rvo.​nl/​onderwerpen/​duurzaam-ondernemen/​energie-en-milieuinnovaties​/​elektrisch-rijden/​stand-van-zaken/​milieuvoordeel). Since 2009 the MRA-E region has seen the rollout of 1000 public charging points. This achievement was brought about by ratifying favourable policies at national, provincial and city levels; providing the right financial incentives; ensuring that grid operators and energy distributors are fully on-board; and obtaining a commitment from other market parties, such as lease companies, to co-finance the charging poles. Issuing calls for tenders by the province of Noord-Holland that contain unambiguous provisions has also proven highly successful in the MRA-E region. Because they are still more expensive to purchase than their petrol or diesel burning counterparts, encouraging the purchase and use of EVs also has to be stimulated with fiscal incentives. In the Netherlands, this happens at national and city levels in the form of subsidies or tax breaks, a substantial portion of which is made available to taxi and delivery vehicles (RVO.nl; http://​www.​rvo.​nl/​onderwerpen/​duurzaam-ondernemen/​energie-en-milieu-innovaties/​elektrisch-rijden/​aan-de-slag/​financiele-ondersteuning?​gclid=​COr_​-JKTs78CFUTItAod9​0kAbw). Cities are also leading by example: many cities in the Netherlands have already added EVs to their municipal fleets and some have incorporated hybrid and full electric buses into public transportation as well as installed public charging points at public buildings. An electric car-sharing scheme introduced by Amsterdam in 2011 has proven popular and is invaluable in raising the profile of e-mobility. With more and more e-cars on the roads, it was clear that electric driving was becoming a real alternative. This chapter provides an overview of the significant growth of e-mobility in the MRA-E region before examining in more depth a fundamental aspect that underpins this achievement, namely the rolling out of a charging infrastructure.

London’s Mayor Johnson has given a high priority to Electric Vehicles (EVs) as the most appropriate road transport technology to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve air quality. This chapter outlines the policy rationale that underpins the Mayor’s strategy to stimulate the early market for EVs, and reviews its implementation over the period 2009–2014. The Mayor of London’s commitment has been demonstrated through initiatives that include the development of the diesel-electric hybrid ‘New Bus for London’, experimental hydrogen fuel cell powered buses and taxis, by collaboration with commercial operators to pilot electrification of freight transport, and by plans to create ‘the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone’ by 2020. Another key objective has been to create an extensive infrastructure for recharging electric scooters, motorcycles, cars, vans and light trucks by 2015. The authors consider these developments with reference to recent research on early market adaptation to electric driving, and the prospects for converting mainstream private drivers and firms. This leads to a discussion of some important challenges that suggest the need for further research to help decision-makers improve the effectiveness of interventions, especially at the user interface: locating and designing EV infrastructure, supporting longer distance electric driving and informing current and potential EV users.

North East England (NE) is at the forefront of low carbon vehicle development with Nissan manufacturing both the Nissan LEAF and lithium-ion batteries at its Sunderland plant from 2013. Since 2010, the region has installed a comprehensive recharging infrastructure, run major electric vehicle (EV) trials and awareness raising campaigns, and has consequently seen a fast increase in EV adoption. The NE has now become a major hub for vehicle, battery and energy research and development, as well as a UK centre for manufacturing and training facilities throughout the EV supply chain. This paper reflects on the experience gained over the last 4 years of EV and infrastructure roll-out and the lessons learned which may be of use to other regions considering large-scale adoption of low carbon vehicles and recharging infrastructure.

In 2009, the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in Germany was awarded funding from the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) as one of eight “E-Mobility Pilot Regions” and started to implement several projects—from 2 wheelers to buses, including the development of full electrical vehicles (e.g. Vito E-Cell). Meanwhile, Stuttgart Region’s LivingLab BW^e mobil in April 2012 became one of four national “E-Mobility showcase regions” for 3 years, and is also hosting the “Leading Edge Cluster Electric Mobility South-West”. The LivingLab BW^e mobil started 40 projects in and around the Stuttgart Region where the scale and scope is even broader than in the Pilot Region activities, including field tests of e-mobility business models. The more than 100 partners from business, science and public authorities are testing electric mobility in actual practice. In their activities the projects concentrate on the Stuttgart Region (Württemberg) and the city of Karlsruhe (Baden), and promote the visibility of their work right up to the international level. The project aims to put around 2000 electric vehicles on the road by 2015, and to install more than 1000 charging points. This paper highlights three select case studies on the projects Get eReady, Car2Go full electric and Stuttgart Services.

RUHRAUTOe is the first e-carsharing project in Germany that includes public transport and housing associations. The project was initiated in November 2012 and spans a period of 18 months. It is government-sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as an undertaking of the “Modellregion Elektromobilität Rhein Ruhr”. The RUHRAUTOe-consortium comprises Duisburg-Essen University, Drive CarSharing GmbH, Vivawest Wohnen GmbH and Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr. It has been closely collaborating with municipalities, local energy suppliers, public and private initiatives and foundations, as well as the private sector. The overriding goal is to establish a demonstration and test model of a multi-modal mobility system in the Ruhr area. More specifically, the project’s objectives are providing people with opportunities to encounter e-mobility and future urban mobility concepts, exploring e-carsharing applications with a high customer value and promising target groups, revealing consumer acceptance amongst drivers, developing a sustainable business model, exploring ways to endorse public transport in a sensitive way, contributing to the concept of eco-friendly housing projects and gathering both subjective and objective data in order to unveil generic drive habits and technological requirements. RUHRAUTOe has been operating a traditional station-based carsharing approach. Currently, 20 PHEVs and 26 BEVs are available at 28 carefully selected and continuously monitored public and private charging stations in eight Ruhr cities. So far, a total number of 1,102 users have driven a total distance of approximately 170,000 km.

This paper investigates the potential of electric vehicles (EVs) in a context of a pilot test in Belgium, consisting of car sharing services managed and exploited in small communities. Part of a broader testing activity in the framework of the e-Mobility NSR project, the test had the objective of metering EVs’ charging and consumption in real daily transport operations, but soon it acquired new meanings. It shaped EV sharing services at a small scale, directly managed by the users, which also share energy and maintenance costs. The chosen context was cohousing, a special type of collaborative housing, and four ones were selected in Flanders: two urban units and two larger semi-urban ones. The two urban communities received a prepaid card for reserving and using EVs provided by Cambio, a Belgian car sharing company. The other two cohousings received two EVs and a charging box, organising and running an internal car sharing system for the duration of 1 year. During the tests, quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The paper reports the intermediate results, identifying potential EV sharing consumers, based on their behaviour and attitudes in relation to the condition of the local context in which they live.

In the last decades several case studies took place to discover the potential of e-mobility in car fleets in Germany. However, the results vary according to the employed data and the specific context (e.g. the sector). The project NeMoLand in the model region Bremen/Oldenburg focuses on the rural area to gain significant experiences and develop recommendations concerning the handling of e-mobility in commercial and public fleets. The hypothesis is that fleets in rural areas have a high potential for the use of e-mobility because of advantages related to a higher average of driving distance and frequency of car use and available charging infrastructure in combination with renewable energies. To identify mobility patterns of different enterprises a survey combined with the application of GPS data loggers is conducted. The results indicate that e-mobility has a high potential in the near future in the analysed fleets. The study points out that due to a high amount of planned trips and fitting mobility patterns, nearly 80 % of the conventional vehicles could be substituted by battery and hybrid electric vehicles for economic reasons until 2020. However, there are still some problems which have to be solved (e.g. the psychological effect of public charging infrastructure) until e-mobility diffuses in rural areas. Considering the modal split of most manufacturers it seems important to stress the positive effects and advantages of e-mobility to achieve a higher impact of low-emission technologies.

The world is witnessing an accelerating expansion of urban areas and intensive urbanisation. The robust relation between transport infrastructure and urban planning is reflected in how integrated and reliable a system is within the urban fabric. Designing an integrated infrastructure to support full electric vehicle (EV) use is a crucial matter, which worries planning authorities, policy makers, as well as current and potential users. Reducing range anxiety by facilitating access to public recharging facilities is designed to overcome the main barrier that stops potential users to utilise EVs. The uncertainty of having a reliable and integrated charging infrastructure also presents hurdles, and slows down the growing trend of smart ecosystems and sustainable urban communities as a whole. Automotive, battery and utility technologies have formed the cornerstone of the EV industry to compete with currently mainstream means of transport, and to gain more prominence within many regions. Strategically locating public EV charging points will help to pave the way for better market penetration of EVs. This paper analyses real information about EV users in one of these metropolitan areas. A case study of 13 charging points with 48 EV users located in the inner urban core (NE1 postcode district) of a metropolitan area in North East England, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, incorporating space-time analysis of the EV population, is presented here. Information about usage and charging patterns is collected from the main local service provider in North East England, Charge Your Car (CYC) Ltd. The methodology employed is a clustering analysis. It is conducted as a dimensional analysis technique for data mining and for significant analysis of quantitative data sets. A spatial and temporal analysis of charging patterns is conducted using SPSS and predictive analytics software. The study outcomes provide recommendations, exploring design theory and the implementation of public EV recharging infrastructure. The chapter presents a methodological approach useful for planning authorities, policy makers and commercial agents in evaluating and measuring the degree of usability of the public electric mobility system.

Project Oscar (Open Service Cloud for the Smart Car, see: http://​www.​fir.​rwth-aachen.​de/​en/​research/​research-projects/​osc-ar-01-me1203), a 3-year collaborative project running from January 2012 to December 2014, introduces an open platform to reduce heterogeneity in tracking and fleet management systems as well as provides electric vehicle (EV) data to the smart grid. This includes various interfaces providing access to smart car data as well as interfaces for integrating services. Thus actors, developers, systems and various other components are connected. The basis for the open ICT innovation platform is the “Open Service Cloud” (OSC), offering generation of added value to a multitude of actors involved. Contrary to most existing solutions, the OSC is open to third parties, thus establishing a platform serving as gateway for additional services and applications. The Oscar architecture enables vehicles to closely interact with the OSC via wireless ICT solutions and the integration of in-car systems. Additional driver interaction is implemented through an “In-Car”-Tablet, enabling a framework for third-party applications. The server acts as an integrator between smart cars, smart traffic and a smart grid. This allows the development of a smart charging algorithm (SCA), which also provides an energy demand forecast for the whole EV fleet. Based on data provided by the OSC this not only benefits the supplier in the short term, but also allows accurate long-term developments of grid infrastructure.

For a wide acceptance of E-Mobility, a well-developed charging infrastructure is needed. Conductive charging stations, which are today’s state of the art, are of limited suitability for urbanised areas, since they cause a significant diversification in townscape. Furthermore, they might be destroyed by vandalism. Besides for those urbanistic reasons, inductive charging stations are a much more comfortable alternative, especially in urbanised areas. The usage of conductive charging stations requires more or less bulky charging cables. The handling of those standardised charging cables, especially during poor weather conditions, might cause inconvenience, such as dirty clothing etc. Wireless charging does not require visible and vandalism vulnerable charge sticks. No wired connection between charging station and vehicle is needed, which enable the placement below the surface of parking spaces or other points of interest. Inductive charging seems to be the optimal alternative for E-Mobility, as a high power transfer can be realised with a manageable technical and financial effort. For a well-accepted and working public charging infrastructure in urbanised areas it is essential that the infrastructure fits the vehicles’ needs. Hence, a well-adjusted standardisation of the charging infrastructure is essential. This is carried out by several IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and national standardisation committees. To ensure an optimised technical solution for future’s inductive charging infrastructures, several field tests had been carried out and are planned in near future.

During the past decade attitude towards sharing things has changed extremely. Not just personal data is shared (e.g. in social networks) but also mobility. Together with the increased ecological awareness of the recent years, new mobility concepts have evolved. E-carsharing has become a symbol for these changes of attitude. The management of a shared car fleet, the energy management of electric mobility and the management of various carsharing users with individual likes and dislikes are just some of the major challenges of e-carsharing. Weaving it into integrated mobility concepts, this raises complexity even further. These challenges can only be overcome by an appropriate amount of well-shaped information available at the right place and time. In order to gather, process and share the required information, fleet cars have to be equipped with modern information and communication technology (ICT) and become so-called fully connected cars. Ensuring the usability of these ICT systems is another challenge that is often neglected, even though it is usability that makes carsharing comfortable, attractive and supports users’ new attitudes. By means of an integrated and consistent concept for human-machine interaction (HMI), the usability of such systems can be raised tremendously.

The issue of thermal management in electric vehicles includes the topics of drivetrain cooling and heating, interior temperature, vehicle body conditioning and safety. In addition to the need to ensure optimal thermal operating conditions of the drivetrain components (drive motor, battery and electrical components), thermal comfort must be provided for the passengers. Thermal comfort is defined as the feeling which expresses the satisfaction of the passengers with the ambient conditions in the compartment. The influencing factors on thermal comfort are the temperature and humidity as well as the speed of the indoor air and the clothing and the activity of the passengers, in addition to the thermal radiation and the temperatures of the interior surfaces. The generation and the maintenance of free visibility (ice- and moisture-free windows) count just as important as on-demand heating and cooling of the entire vehicle. A Carsharing climate concept of the innovative ec2go vehicle stipulates and allows for only seating areas used by passengers to be thermally conditioned in a close-to-body manner. To enable this, a particular feature has been added to the preconditioning of the Carsharing electric vehicle during the electric charging phase at the parking station.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have high energy capacity and their anticipated mass deployment can significantly increase the electrical demand on the grid during charging. Simulation results suggest that for every 10 % increase in households operating 3 kW EV chargers in an uncontrolled way, there is a potential increase of peak demand by up to 18 %. Given the limited spare capacity of most existing distribution networks, it is expected that large-scale charging of EVs will lead to potential problems with regard to network capacity and control. This paper presents analysis of these problems and investigates potential means by which the particular features of EV batteries may be used to enable large-scale introduction of EVs without the need for wholesale upgrading of power grids. Smart charging, using a combination of controlled EV charging (G2V) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G), can significantly help. The results presented demonstrate the benefits of smart charging for the grid and consider the impact of grid support on the EV battery lifetime. Various factors that affect capacity degradation of Lithium ion battery (used to power EVs) are analysed and the impacts of G2V and V2G operation on battery capacity loss and lifetime are evaluated. Laboratory test results are provided to quantify the effects of the various degradation factors, and it is shown how these may be ameliorated to allow economic network support using EV batteries without incurring excessive battery degradation in the process.

Electric vehicles (EVs) address the challenges global megatrends impose on freight transporting companies in urban areas. EVs decouple transport costs from depleting oil reserves and are free of tailpipe emissions. They are, technically, suitable for urban transport tasks which are often characterized by short, pre-planned tours and enable battery charging—or changing—at the depot. Despite these promising potentials, electric urban freight transport is still a niche market. The literature suggests the main obstacle for mass usage is the high purchase price, since profitability is considered the most important factor by nearly all companies. A descriptive statistical analysis of urban freight initiatives deploying EVs in the European North Sea Region identifies two current trends, and clusters profitability concepts of good practice examples in Europe. The study suggests that one trend is to deploy slow and light electric vehicles such as electric cargo bikes, scooters or heavy quadricycles, often combined with micro-consolidation hubs. In the second trend, medium heavy electric trucks substitute conventional vehicles in last mile logistics. Here, concepts that fully exploit the strengths of EVs to increase their productivity reach profitable operations. These include: (i) reducing the capital investment for EVs, (ii) increasing the kilometre range to benefit from low operational costs, (iii) capitalizing on the vehicles’ sustainable image and (iv) exploiting of new business opportunities. The findings have implications for policy makers and companies, and they encourage the use of EVs in freight transport to abate freight transport-related emissions.