Taxi companies, car-sharing providers and company car fleets will all play an important role in the future in helping to make electromobility more visible. Replacing conventional vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs) also makes sound financial sense and this has now been recognised by the German Aerospace Centre DLR Institute of Vehicle Concepts where researchers have now developed software under the I-CVUE (Incentives for Cleaner Vehicles in Urban Europe) EU project.
The software is free for use after registration and is initially aimed at fleet operators. In minutes, it can calculate the total cost per vehicle and the aim of the project is to replace 1000 conventional vehicles, thereby reducing harmful emissions in urban environments. The seven countries participating in the project will also offer independent, personalised advice for fleet operators and decision-makers in government and public authorities. The project is being coordinated by the Energy Saving Trust (United Kingdom) and co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Union.
In addition to DLR, partners include: Bosch (Germany), RACC Automovil Club (Spain), Electric Vehicle Union EVU (Norway), FIER Automotive (Netherlands), IRU Projects (Belgium), Transport for London (United Kingdom), Austrian Energy Agency EA (Austria) and Cardiff University (United Kingdom).
“In order to create the best possible basis for making decisions, we considered a wide range of criteria and assumptions” said Christoph Schimeczek, manager of the project at the DLR site in Stuttgart. These criteria include incentives such as tax breaks and depreciation options, as well as assumptions about changes in petrol and electricity prices, repair, maintenance and insurance costs, and the total mileage and spread of the mileage throughout the year.
Users can work entirely with a predetermined reference dataset, or they can change individual assumptions and incorporate their own data into the calculation, thereby generating different scenarios.
“Compared to other offerings, our program enables a very detailed assessment” Mr Schimeczek added. “At the same time, the underlying suppositions are transparent for the user and can be customised as required.”
The evaluation is currently available in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Austria and Spain but Norway and France will also be able to receive it in the near future. The second stage of development will focus on policy makers with DLR researchers aiming to enable the software to compare various funding options for electromobility. Other applications may include calculations involving parking spaces reserved for electric cars, bus lane use or access restriction for emission-intensive vehicles. This will enable policymakers to determine the measures promising the greatest success for developing electromobility.
For additional information:
Online tool: www.dsm.icvue.eu
