• Energy Research

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) can be a main lever towards a decarbonised road transport system. The PEV market uptake needs to be nurtured by appropriate support measures for users, for technological advances related to the vehicle and its components, and for all relevant recharging infrastructure deployment. This paper focuses on the role of PEV recharging infrastructure for electric passenger car uptake in Europe. It examines the status of road transport electrification, relevant policies, incentives and national plans. We find that the status and plans of PEV and recharging infrastructure and the corresponding support measures vary significantly between countries. The PEV share in the various analysed countries ranged in 2017 from 0.01% to 5.49% and is estimated to reach values between 0.05% and 12.71% in 2020. The corresponding ratio of PEV per one publicly accessible recharging point ranged between 1 and 60 and is estimated to vary between 3 and 161 in 2020. Diverging plans could lead to market fragmentation in the European Union (EU) and impede the EU-wide circulation of PEVs. The appropriate level of recharging infrastructure should be determined to both support PEV deployment and to prevent sunk investments. Different country experiences vis-à-vis PEV and infrastructure support could be useful to identify best practices.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been around for more than a hundred years. Nevertheless, their deployment has not been a sustainable success up until now. Many scientists, engineers and policymakers argue that EVs are a promising, maybe even indispensable option to achieve ambitious decarbonization goals, if powered by electricity from renewable energy sources. At the moment, the EVs market is gaining a lot of momentum and we may be near the point of no return for a sustained mass market deployment of electric vehicles. Many papers exist that describe future prospects of EVs. In our commentary we try to provide a bigger picture view and look at market and societal aspects. We analyze why previous generations of EVs were not successful and how current electric vehicles could become a sustainable success. We perform a semi-quantitative Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis and find that current electric vehicle designs are technologically on par with or better than conventional alternatives. Car buyers go electric when the economics make sense to them. We conclude that incentives are needed for electric vehicles until battery costs lower—as much as to allow EVs to become cheaper—from a total cost of ownership (TCO) perspective, than other alternatives. Other policy measures are needed to overcome remaining barriers, especially in supporting the setup and operation of publicly accessible recharging points to overcome range anxiety. EVs in isolation may not be the next mobility killer app. The real next mobility killer app may emerge as an autonomous shared EV in a world where the border between public and private transport will cease to exist. The findings of our commentary are relevant for scientists, policymakers and industry.

The European Commission’s Communication on a European Green Deal sets out the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, which will require a reduction in transport emissions. To this aim, digital technologies, together with connectivity and automation, are transforming traditional concepts of mobility, with a potential impact towards transport decarbonisation. New business models are emerging and giving rise to innovative mobility services including new online platforms for car-pooling, car or bicycle sharing services, freight operations, or smartphone applications offering real-time travel information and other analytics. This study provides an overview of the European Union (EU) funded research and innovation (R&I) and related technologies that are influencing the uptake of digital transformation in transport and identifies issues and challenges from a European perspective. To that end, it follows a two-tier approach that examines policy and legislative initiatives from the European Commission, highlighting possible challenges and enablers. Moreover, it analyses transport technology developments in Europe, focusing on the technology maturity from EU R&I framework programmes, using the European Commission’s Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS). The technology analysis provides insights that aid policy decisions related to funding allocation in future R&I framework programmes.

The current paper discusses the most recent advancements in automated vehicle (AV) certification and how existing regulations/best practices from the nuclear field helped make AVs a reality. In particular, three main pillars differentiate the newly devised certification frameworks from previous automotive regulations: the introduction of a safety management system, the adoption of in-service monitoring and reporting data logging systems, and the use of virtual testing to demonstrate the safety of the AV; a set of pillars that are also found in the nuclear practice. The argumentation is informed by relevant literature and shared experiences from the nuclear power plant and transportation fields where there are established safety practices to manage safety-critical cyber-physical systems. Although the nuclear and transportation fields might seem unrelated, strong synergies were found, including risk management approaches and operational data collection procedures, which supported the timely drafting of the new regulation for AVs. Nonetheless, some open challenges remain due to peculiar aspects of AVs that will need to be addressed in the near future. Namely, practical methodologies for the residual-risk calculation for the various Operational Design Domains (ODDs), the design of scalable monitoring techniques, and the definition of detailed procedures for the virtual testing tool qualification.

Low-carbon transport is a priority in addressing climate change. Transport is still almost totally dependent on fossil fuels (96%) and accounts for almost 60% of global oil use. Sustainable transport systems, both passenger and freight, should be economically and technically feasible, but also low-carbon and environmentally friendly. The calculation of greenhouse gas emissions in transport projects is becoming a primary target of transport companies as a part of an endeavor for low-carbon strategies to reduce the energy demand and environmental impact. This paper investigates the CO2 impact of construction and operation of the main highway and railway line infrastructure in Greece, which connects Athens and Thessaloniki, the capital and the second biggest city in Greece respectively and provides a comparative analysis in roadway and railway transport.

The European Commission’s Strategic Transport Research and Innovation Agenda (STRIA) outlines future transport research and innovation (R&I) priorities towards the decarbonization of European transport. Seven STRIA roadmaps focus on crosscutting research areas. In order to support and monitor their implementation, the Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS) was developed. It is an integrated transport policy-support tool with a modular design, serving as a knowledge management system that offers open-access information, as well as an inventory of transport technologies and innovations. TRIMIS provides a holistic assessment of current and emerging technologies and trends and R&I capacities in the European transport sector incorporating foresight capabilities based on transport R&I data collection, innovation capacity mapping, technological status assessment, horizon scanning, and identification of new and emerging technologies and trends. This paper presents an overview of TRIMIS and its benefits as an integrated analytical tool that provides support to sustainable transport governance and decision-making. Moreover, it provides insights on current technology trends in the road transport domain with a focus on smart innovation and identifies emerging trends with a potential future impact through a dedicated case study, combining a techno-economic assessment with findings of a horizon scanning exercise.

Transport contributes significantly to economic growth and higher quality of life, but its associated externalities have an environmental, economic and social impact and are the main impetus to support innovation towards sustainable transport. The European Commission’s Communication on a European Green Deal sets out the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, for which transport emissions will need to be further reduced. Innovation within the transport sector gains greater prominence, with some anticipating an innovation revolution that would completely transform the sector. In this paper, the barriers that impede such a transition from happening are examined and a tool that aids policymakers and researchers with shaping transport innovation actions is presented; The Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS) is an integrated transport policy-support tool with a modular design serving as an open-access information and knowledge management system. This paper provides an overview of its main features and includes a case study on transport electrification and alternative fuels, showing how monitoring efforts can aid transport research and innovation (R&I) policymaking and governance. TRIMIS contributes to identifying evolutionary and revolutionary technologies, their funding and associated policy initiatives, so the anticipated transport revolution can be better monitored, evaluated and shaped.

The 2030 Climate target plan of the European Commission (EC) establishes a greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions reduction target of at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990. It highlights that all transport modes—road, rail, aviation and waterborne—will have to contribute to this aim. A smart combination of vehicle/vessel/aircraft efficiency improvements, as well as fuel mix changes, are among the measures that can reduce GHG emissions, reducing at the same time noise pollution and improving air quality. This research provides a comprehensive analysis of recent research and innovation in low-emission alternative energy for transport (excluding hydrogen) in selected European Union (EU)-funded projects. It considers the latest developments in the field, identifying relevant researched technologies by fuel type and their development phase. The results show that liquefied natural gas (LNG) refueling stations, followed by biofuels for road transport and alternative aviation fuels, are among the researched technologies with the highest investments. Methane-based fuels (e.g., compressed natural gas (CNG), LNG) have received the greatest attention concerning the number of projects and the level of funding. By contrast, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) only has four ongoing projects. Alcohols, esters and ethers, and synthetic paraffinic and aromatic fuels (SPF) are in between. So far, road transport has the highest use of alternative fuels in the transport sector. Despite the financial support from the EU, advances have yet to materialize, suggesting that EU transport decarbonization policies should not consider a radical or sudden change, and therefore, transition periods are critical. It is also noteworthy that there is no silver bullet solution to decarbonization and thus the right use of the various alternative fuels available will be key.