German project exploring integration of electromobility with transport services
09 March 2015
A project funded by the German government—“BiE – Bewertung integrierter Elektromobilität” (evaluation of integrated electromobility)—is exploring how mobility services (such as public transport services and car sharing) can be integrated better with electric vehicles and into the everyday life of users. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding BiE with €2 million (US$2.2 million) under the federal program “Electric Mobility”. BiE is part of the “Cluster Electric Mobility South-West”. The joint project is coordinated by cantamen GmbH, a provider of IT solutions for fleets and carsharing.
The BiE project focuses on concepts for the seamless cooperation of various mobility service providers as well as on the optimized planning of larger, electrically driven car sharing fleets. The paramount project goal is to design an evaluation system for the integration of electric mobility into everyday life. Based on characteristics, the project tools will make specific calculations regarding the use of electric mobility in various areas.
The partners will design a booking system meeting specific requirements of electric mobility. Via this system, customers of a car sharing company will be provided with an electric vehicle that is optimally charged for their purposes. In addition, the project partners are working on an interaction model, by means of which users can combine various services.
The model will support the cooperation of various service providers, such as car sharing companies, the public passenger transport system or businesses.
An integrated electric mobility assistance system will support individuals and service providers in using electric mobility, and will facilitate demand planning. Distances that might be covered ideally with an electric vehicle will be displayed to the clients on their smartphones. In addition, the assistance system is to identify mobility needs in everyday life—such as a drive to the supermarket—then prepare the vehicle accordingly.
An advising system, similar to a vote match system, is planned for subsequent development. By inputting various parameters, such as size of organization (e.g. communities or municipalities), the number of persons, and mobility behavior, the system is intended to determine whether and under which conditions electric mobility is reasonable. Individually tailored mobility architecture recommendations will be made for the organization described. The required investments, infrastructures, utilization, and economic efficiency of e-mobility solutions can be forecast for nearly any environment.
Prior to implementation, the project will simulate potential use scenarios, thereby enabling the identification of required infrastructures for vehicle fleets and the cooperation options of various service providers. Traffic flows also will be analyzed.
Eleven partners are participating in BiE: The FZI Research Center for Information Technology and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with the Institute for Transport Studies (IfV) and the Institute of Product Engineering (IPEK) contribute latest scientific findings. The industry partners are Bosch, cantamen GmbH, esentri AG, RA Consulting GmbH, Raumobil GmbH, and TWT GmbH Science and Innovation. The two car sharing service providers Stadtmobil Karlsruhe and Stadtmobil Rhein-Neckar are regional pilot partners for the tests.
Germany and Japan (and a few other countries) have better national energy policices and it may produce superior results in the near future.
Posted by: HarveyD | 09 March 2015 at 07:46 AM