Overview
Currently, one of the biggest challenges are people and freight mobility. Internal combustion engine vehicles have dominated road transport for over 100 years but are detrimental to people and nature. In addition to CO2 emissions which lead to climate change, pollutants such as NOx have negative impacts on air quality in urban areas.
Road transport is at the heart of some of the most significant societal challenges. The importance of energy security and sustainability, climate change, environmental issues and road safety are increasingly recognised; the need for accessible, affordable and robust mobility is acknowledged by increasingly urbanised populations; the recent global financial crisis has illustrated the need to improve European competitiveness.
Vehicle manufacturers are well aware of the problems which lie ahead, and all types of Electric Vehicles (EVs) are entering the market. However, there are barriers to the electrification of road transport, affecting consumer acceptance and confidence in such vehicles. New innovative ICT services are required for a significant migration to electric transport and the mobility of people and freight.
Barriers to eMobility are mainly related to the electric battery limitations such as their weight and range, but also infrastructure requirements for charging points. Currently electric vehicles are still best used for short journeys due to the range of the batteries.
The question of cruising range is vital for consumers, although most surveys and studies show that most trips match the theoretical range of EVs, market research underline the existence of 'range anxiety' among consumers. While it would be good to change driver's perception about this issue, it is also up to ICT services to facilitate the management of EV journeys and all the aspects related to simplifying the charging of EVs to overcome 'range anxiety'.
Cost is also an important barrier, with purchase price currently much higher compared to conventional vehicles, and running costs remaining something of an uncertainty for consumers. This might pave the way for a revision of the traditional perception of road transport as based on vehicle ownership, and an increase in the demand for services such as vehicle-sharing. Energy cost savings linked to the rising price of petrol and potential economies of scale associated with running EV fleets might also convince public and private fleet operators to adopt EVs.
Facilitating vehicle-sharing, public transportation or freight distribution and optimising the performance of EVs, increasing public awareness and acceptance, and enhancing the confidence of end users towards a new form of mobility: electro-mobility. In this way the results of smartCEM will contribute to a pre-deployment and wider uptake of smart connected electro mobility as a radical departure from today's transport system, moving Europe towards its carbon emission reduction targets.
To encourage the use of EVs as part of everyday life smartCEM will run pilots for five advanced Electric Vehicle (EV) mobility services: EV-navigation, EV-efficient driving, EV-trip management, EV-charging station management and EV-sharing management.
EV-navigation:
Mr Z drives an EV with smartCEM equipment. An onboard unit will allows Mr Z to programme his destination; the unit will display the entire route, based on eco-navigation principles and calculated to suit the needs of the EV. The device will also show the location of Points of Interest (POIs) like charging stations, showing real time availability of stations and include a battery management system showing which charging point is available based on Mr Z's vehicle state of charge or Mr Z's driving style. The EV-Navigation service will make charging as flexible, secure and convenient as possible for Mr Z.
EV-efficient driving:
Miss V drives an EV with a smartCEM system which evaluates her driving style taking into account the EV requirements. This service will provide Miss V with the necessary information she needs to maximise her driving efficiency and eco-driving-style. The service will monitor Miss V's driving style and vehicle usage.
EV-trip management:
Mr Z plans to use public transportation to go from location A to location B. He is using a WEB journey planning system which shows the best multimodal public transport combination for a given journey. This tool provides car-sharing or scooter-sharing transport as part of the public transport offer, and will allow Mr Z to book and pay such an EV from the system. This service build from existing journey planning systems including real-time information for bus, rail, and metro services, ensuring that EVs are fully integrated to the public transportation offer.
EV-vehicle sharing management:
Mr Y wants to go from A to B and finds it very convenient to use a shared vehicle for this purpose, even more because it is smart and electric. He books a car / electric scooter from his smartphone or web portal; the EV-sharing back office system assigns a vehicle to the user at the agreed time and location with more than enough battery State-of-Charge; the user gets to the vehicle at the start time and unlocks it by means of an smartcard or through his smartphone app. User driving style is remotely monitored Real-Time and recommendations on EV-efficient driving are generated and shown to the user on-trip (for electric cars) and post-trip