Promote the uptake of electric vehicles among general public and goods distribution companies

Summary

In order to incorporate electric vehicles in Palma’s private sector, a favourable environment has been established through offering incentives and installing accessible public charging points in different parts of the city. Also, several barriers for the use of electric vehicles have been taken away and promotional campaigns have taken place.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Before the CIVITAS DYN@MO project there were very few electric vehicles running on the island of Mallorca. There are still many practical doubts among the population about charging the vehicles and charging infrastructures involved. For example, how should a condominium handle a charging point in the joint parking area where electricity is paid by the condominium and not by the individual residents?

The combined information campaigns of the energy company and the city hall were promoting innovative solutions that would include an online savings calculation tool so that electric car owners can calculate their financial and environmental savings. In addition, 12 intelligent public charging points would be established in public space. The charging points would be able to recognize who is charging when and how much. By linking the intelligent charging points to the mobility platform developed within CIVITAS, users would be able to access real-time information on the availability of charging points on their smartphones. The city would implement policy incentives including free on-street parking for electric vehicles and exemptions to access regulations.

The main objectives of this measure were to:

• Establish a friendly environment for the uptake of electric vehicles, including 12 new intelligent public charging points, free or reduced parking fees for electric vehicles, and no access restrictions for electric delivery vehicles.
• Organize information and awareness campaigns from the citizen information center about electric mobility in co-operation with the local energy provider Endesa
• Increase the number of electric vehicles in Palma to 1,000 by the end of the CIVITAS-DYN@MO project

Progress

Planning & preparation

During the preparation phase the following tasks were executed:

• Study on design, location and business model of intelligent public charging points for electric vehicles in close cooperation with the main local electricity provider
• Development of local regulations for free parking and incentives for electric delivery vehicles
• Stakeholder meetings with the round table on electromobility
• Development of online calculation tool for economic and environmental savings of electric cars
• Application of the Municipal Company SMAP to be gestor de carga, a body that is allowed to provide charging services for electric vehicles in line with Spanish national regulations.

Implementation & demonstration

In the implementation phase the following tasks have been executed:

• The City of Palma introduced a local regulation that ensures free parking for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles that have been registered in the regional electric vehicle database obtain a special sticker. With this sticker the vehicles can park for free in the blue zones within the city of Palma. Also, EV owners pay a lower circulation tax for their vehicles.
• Since December 2014, a new municipal decree has allowed electric vehicles to make use of an inner-city connection that is closed to regular traffic.
• By April, 2015, five new intelligent public charging points were put in operation, as well as four new non-intelligent charging points.
• Further intelligent public charging points are expected in 2015.
• Stakeholder meetings on electromobility.
• Three lead users have been selected, they share their experiences with using electric vehicles (e-car and pedelec) through social media and a blog.

Outcomes

Expected tangible outputs from the measure:

• At least 12 intelligent public charging points for electric vehicles

Nowadays there are 25 charging points:  15 on SMAP public parkings and 10 surfaced distributed in the city.

• 3 information campaigns on electromobility

In September 2015 during mobility week, an EV performance and exhibition took place

• Informative posters and social network dissemination about the new charging points in Summer 2016.

• Continuous information provision from the electromobility information centre
• New local regulations implemented with incentives for electric vehicles
• Information requests at information centre for electromobility
• At least 10 stakeholder meetings on electromobility
• At least 100 consultation meetings with homeowner associations at the electromobility information centre
• Three DYN@MO ambassadors appointed

Expected outcomes in the short- to medium-term:

• Uptake of electric vehicles: by the end of the project over 1,000 electric vehicles will circulate in the city of Palma
• As many as 50 private owners of electric vehicles have used the online savings calculation tool
• Up to three private owners of electric vehicles keep a detailed report of their experiences in a blog/social media
• Our Lead User shares his experiences on his E-bike:

YouTube EBici Diaria https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy_cJi4-Y18xQkKWI1hbufQ

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Sebassalom?fref=nf

http://www.civitaspalma.com/es/noticias/page/4

• At least two local freight companies start using electric vehicles because of the incentives

• Since Summer 2015 most important rent a car companies in close collaboration with Nissan count on EV for turistical rentals

A presentation of this initiative took place in april 2015 and was set and information point during 15 days on EV and charging points.

Private electric provider ENDESA introduced in their fleet 25 EV including a Car-Sharing service (June 2016)As many as 50 apartment buildings in the city have organised charging points in their common underground parking garage

Expected outcomes in the mid- to long-term:

• Wide uptake of electromobility
• Reduced emissions from car traffic