• Energy Research

A high penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) will deeply impact the management of electric power systems. The risk of not providing adapted EV pricing signals can lead to inefficient investments in grid infrastructure. To avoid costly grid reinforcements and to ensure proper guidance for EV charging, a solution allowing customers to access EV-only rates without installing a separate meter, which we refer to as submetering, is an attractive option for EV owners and grid operators. We develop a game-theoretical model expressed and treated as a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) to capture the interaction between a national regulatory authority (NRA) designing these tariffs and heterogeneous agents. This framework represents a stylized regulatory setup applicable to several European countries. First, we analyse the conditions in which EV-only tariffs can be applied for domestic charging by comparing different energy profiles. Second, we study the impact of EV charging on different tariff structures to identify the most efficient way of recovering network costs. We found that the adoption of submetering under a pure volumetric tariff can bring yearly gains varying from $ 64 to $ 125 to consumers with EV. Finally, we derive policy implications from the results.

AbstractAlthough the concept of a transition towards sustainability has been introduced about 30 years ago, there is still a lack of progress. Transport emissions have not decreased in the last decade. However, they need to be reduced substantially to meet climate goals. The cornerstones of a transition can be summarized with the avoid-shift-improve paradigm: Traffic should be avoided as much as possible, any unavoidable traffic should be shifted to sustainable modes of transport and finally fuel and vehicle technologies should be improved. The goal of this paper is to find out how and where transport optimization can contribute to a transition towards sustainable mobility. It identifies concepts based on the avoid-shift-improve approach for which transport optimization can be used, describes the existing literature and points out research directions.

Local authorities have a strategic role in mitigating the environmental impacts of the transport sector. However, they struggle to integrate environmental issues into their decision-making processes, especially planning. In the European context of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan approach and Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs), this paper scrutinises three French localities to determine the current best practices and limitations for designing mobility plans and integrating environmental issues. Several limitations are identified: (1) limited expertise in defining and characterising actions and objectives, which complexifies plans’ design, understanding, and monitoring; (2) a lack of a framework to conduct long-term quantitative environmental assessments and to use the results to influence decision effectively; and (3) monitoring processes are barely described in the documents, and the planning horizon where objectives are defined is not in sync with the indicators’ mandatory evaluation period. This French case study thus reveals that European planning practices must be further analysed and improved to deal with the rising environmental concerns, e.g. through an operational framework to design mobility plans with effective integration of environmental issues.

Electric vehicles are gaining importance and help to reduce dependency on oil, increase energy efficiency of transportation, reduce carbon emissions and noise, and avoid tail pipe emissions. Because of short driving distances, high mileages, and intermediate waiting times, fossil-fuelled taxi vehicles are ideal candidates for being replaced by battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Moreover, taxis as BEVs would increase visibility of electric mobility and therefore encourage others to purchase an electric vehicle. Prior to replacing conventional taxis with BEVs, a suitable charging infrastructure has to be established. This infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for the use of BEVs in practice, consists of a sufficiently dense network of charging stations taking into account the lower driving ranges of BEVs. In this case study we propose a decision support system for placing charging stations to satisfy the charging demand of electric taxi vehicles. Operational taxi data from about 800 vehicles is used to identify and estimate the charging demand for electric taxis based on frequent origins and destinations of trips. Next, a variant of a set covering problem is formulated and solved, aiming at satisfying as much charging demand as possible with a limited number of charging stations. Already existing charging locations are considered in the optimization problem. In this work, we focus on finding regions in which charging stations should be placed, rather than exact locations. The exact location within an area is identified in a post-optimization phase (e.g., by authorities), where environmental conditions are considered, e.g., the capacity of the power network, availability of space, and legal issues. Our approach is implemented in the city of Vienna, Austria, in the course of an applied research project conducted in 2014. Local authorities, power network operators, representatives of taxi driver guilds as well as a radio taxi provider participated in the project and identified exact locations for charging stations based on our decision support system.

AbstractWithin the on-going ecological transition, mobility systems are considered as sociotechnical systems that raise several challenges for local authorities due to the different levels of decision, a complex stakeholder network and the numerous objectives to be dealt with. Designers are therefore seeking to develop new frameworks to support local authorities moving towards more sustainable mobility systems. Based on the French context, this study relies on an analysis of the regulation and an interview-based survey that depict the mobility design from the local authorities’ perspective. First, it investigates the objectives defined in the law and the difficulties met by local authorities. Then, it highlights the main political, organisational, and knowledge barriers for sustainable mobility. Finally, it proposes a set of recommendations to create a framework to better define and prioritise the objectives, ensure efficient planning and monitoring, clarify the interactions between actors, and enhance mobility plans.