Overview
More than half of humanity lives in cities. Electromobility provides –particularly for China’s urban growth – a strategic technological solution to the development of environmentally sustainable transport. This emerging focus relies on the combination of public personal mobility services, such as car sharing and a shift away from economy-based traffic towards electric vehicles. The aim of electromobility is to not only change how people drive in the current system but to also reduce traffic and begin the transition towards a city of short distances. As a part of the Chinese demonstration region, Shenzhen is comprised of more than 10 million inhabitants. This Southern Chinese metropolis is one of the world’s most important production sites for electric vehicles and provides a great deal of practical experience with electric vehicles (e-taxis & e-buses) due to the cities long term involvement with large volumes of electric vehicles. Similar to Shenzhen, Hamburg represents one of Germany’s electromobility model regions and in recent years has launched numerous initiatives (e-Quartier Hamburg & economy on power) to establish environmentally sound mobility technologies. These systematic models and tools allow for the progression of urban and transport development. The SINGER project compares the experiences of China and Germany.
How can electromobility contribute to sustainable urban development? Utilizing these two model regions, this question will be discussed in depth within HafenCity University’s “Environmentally Sound Urban and Infrastructure Planning” Department, located in Hamburg. This department will analyse how users, researchers, vehicle manufacturers, corporations, infrastructure providers, government agencies, policymakers and the regulatory framework interact. Sustainable concepts and planning project components will be exposed and developed. Differing categories of projects will be defined: Urban development focusing on electromobility transition, development of an electromobility charging infrastructure and the conversion of existing intermodal transportation system towards electromobility. The resulting results will be compared, assessed and evaluated. These results will be transferable to other cities and discussed at an international workshop to be held in 2016.