Competitive Electric Town Transport - COMPETT

The main research question of the Electromobility+ project COMPETT was: ?How can e-vehicles come into use to a greater degree?? To answer this question the project: 1. Investigated the present status of the e-vehicle (BEVs and PHEVs) market, i.e. the characteristics of the vehicles, the availability of infrastructure, sales and prices and the expected future development. Fuel cell vehicles were not investigated, as they are not on the market yet. 2. Investigated the peoples travel behaviour, using results from travel surveys to estimate the share of transportation that can be accomplished with e-vehicles. Focusing on BEVs, COMPETT showed how availability of parking support the possibility to recharge at home over night, and how stops during the day, can be used to recharge and extend BEVs range. 3. Investigated noise of BEVs to see if noise in cities can be reduced with BEVs. 4. Investigated regional cases in Norway and in Austria to understand how e-vehicles are used, focusing on BEVs and consumers, the barriers and opportunities, and how incentives and policies influence and can support market expansion. BEV owners, ICE-vehicle owners and stakeholders where surveyed. 5. Developed the SERAPIS model that can simulate the automotive markets in Austria and Norway, and how the fleet and government budgets costs evolve with different policies. The model was used to identify cost-effectiveness of policies. An increasing BEV market share requires dealers to promote BEVs actively, and that consumers choose BEVs. Consumers will do so if they find it beneficial. The main factors to make consumers interested in BEVs; are: 1. Their attitudes and values, make them more (environment, technology) or less (traditionalist) interested in BEVs. 2. Consumers need to know about BEVs, i.e. their characteristics, through reliable information sources (such as friends, authorities, producers) and testing. 3. The vehicles must be practical, reliable, and economically viable and meet users? needs. Users must have parking with electricity available. The practicality depends on household type (single-/multi-vehicle), availability of types and models, and country specific factors such as climate. 4. The policy framework should be stable over time to reduce actors risk, i.e. consistent in scope and communication, but also flexible to allow for unexpected developments and business creativity. 5. Incentives will improve the purchase process by reducing the price disadvantage, and provide users with relative advantages. Low tax on electricity, high tax on fossil fuels and the low energy consumption of BEVs are parts of the picture. Local incentives can provide enough relative advantage to get diffusion started. Public charging stations make life with a BEV easier but may not materialize without incentives in the initial phases. COMPETT learnings on taking BEVs into use to a greater degree: 1. Important real barriers to BEV diffusion are range, price, awareness, and the availability of charging infrastructure. Society can support BEV diffusion by introducing flexible policies and incentives that reduce these barriers. 2. BEVs can cover a large share of people?s transportation needs. The current selection of BEVs and their characteristics match people?s needs better than before. A larger selection of vehicles will stimulate future diffusion. 3. Multi-vehicle households and fleets have the best ability to take BEVs into use. 4. BEV owners mainly charge at home in private parking places and some at work. Charging in other public locations is rare. Public infrastructure extend the range of BEVs and increase their usefulness. 5. Government costs will be significant when economic incentives lead to a rapid take-up. Smart policy formulation can reduce the burden on public budgets. Purchase incentives can be offset by progressive taxes on polluting vehicles. 6. Awareness raising and schemes to allow testing are important in the early phase of BEV diffusion but will not lead to significant sales unless coupled with incentives. A national communication strategy will be a valuable tool in speeding up EV diffusion. An important part of such a communication plan will be to spread information about BEV assets such as a comfortable ride and the high energy efficiency and low energy costs and home charging. 7. User incentives providing BEV owners with a relative advantage, can be very effective in the absence of purchase incentives; an example is access to bus lanes. 8. Incentives only work effectively when vehicles are available from several manufacturers, and consumers have become aware of the BEV?s assets. The neighbourhood effect speeds up diffusion in the early majority group 9. Policies should be carefully planned and implemented as a stable national framework involving organisations and industry as well.