URBACT II

Type 1: Analytical case study

Name of Project: EVUE 400 Charging points in 4 years Date: 2009-2011

The City of Oslo project to establish 400 public charging point: Overview Public procurement of charging stations Finding locations for charging points Establish a routine to ensure progress Establish a routine for maintenance Provide charging points to enable city dwellers to switch to an electric car and reduce local emissions and noise in their neighbourhood.

Basic description of the background and setting Summary Challenges addresses that the practice Establish 400 public charging points for electric vehicles. One problem is to find locations for charging points and to establish a routine and a partnership which ensures progress so we reach our goal of 400 charging points.

The Context

What are the specific features of the context that have shaped the practice? Already incentives in place to support purchase of EVs Politicians allocated funding and a specific time goal the project worked towards The public, represented by the EV Owners Association, pushed for progress The inhabitants in the city needed places to park and charge their car if they were to switch to an electric car, thus the city needed public charging points. The key aim is to provide charging opportunities for people living in the city, who would like to drive electric but dont have their own garage or place to charge. Another aim is to provide other EV drivers with a place to park and charge their car while in Oslo. When driving and EV you drive without local emission, and save the local environment for tailpipe emission and noise. The city of Oslo wanted to encourage the use of EVs, even though some of the national incentives such as access to bus and taxi lanes and exemption from tolls on toll roads may compete to a certain degree against public transport and bicycling.

Aims and objectives

Social Innovation

Establishing charging points was a new practice since the city did not have any previous experience in this technology. There were also very limited choices in what equipment we could use when we first procured charging points in 2008. There had been some innovation of charging equipment when we did our second procurement in 2009, and some of this innovation came as a direct consequence of the charging stations we had established the previous years. That way you can say that our project actually led to innovation and progress in the charging equipment field.

Case: Concise description and explanation of the practice Main components or parts of the practice Key elements: Establishing public charging points on public streets. Procure and maintain the charging equipment being used. The action started with a verdict in the City Council late 2007. The project of establishing 400 charging points in 4 years began in 2008 and finished in 2011. We met the goal of 400 in 2011, and political satisfaction in the work we did gave us the task of establishing 100 more in 2012 and 200 more in 2013. The progress has been on-going. Procurement of charging equipment has been done two times. In 2008 with a small batch, and in 2009 with a large batch of charging stations. Procurement of entrepreneur has been done once, in 2008. Process - Development over time Finding locations for charging points has usually happened October-April every year, while the physical work of establishing charging points has usually happened April October. Due to Norwegian winters and snow, it is expensive and more difficult to do work in the ground during winter, so this time is used for surveying new points and do the paperwork of getting proper licences and approvals from the power supplier etc.

Timing - Start and duration

In the beginning the challenge was knowledge about EVs, charging equipment and the process to get a charging point up and running on the street. Overcoming challenges After the first years, the process had evolved and a routine had been established with frequent meetings which ensured progress. In 2011, the challenge was knowing whether we were going to continue to build charging points in 2012, and securing funding for this to ensure progress. There were not many cities who had done the same as us when we started in 2008, but we did a study tour to Paris and London in 2008 to try to learn from those practices. We joined the EVUE project in 2010 in order to share our knowledge and to learn from other European cities that were or wanted to improve conditions for EVs in their cities.

Transnationality

Key actors The idea for 400 charging points was a politician for the Left Liberal Party, Ola Elvestuen, based on suggestions from environmental organizations and the Norwegian EV Users Association. The proposition was granted in the City Council and the task then given to the Traffic Agency (now part of the Agency for Urban Environment). The Agency, together with the entrepreneur company Proxll, has then done the rest. We have also had bi-annual meetings with the EV organization, the environmental organization ZERO, and the project Green Car in order to get feedback on our progress and practice, our thoughts on future development, and to her what they think will be important in future-proofing our practice, what is new and developing in the

Main actors involved

EV world etc.

Coordination mechanisms

The dynamic between the Agency and the entrepreneur developed into a very good relationship, frequent meetings and coordination in the planning process made us able to reach our goal. The fact that we had 4 years to learn and develop the mechanism was very important. We also had the same people engaged in the project the whole time. We involved residents and EV drivers every year before we looked for locations for new places for charging points. We got the local paper to publish articles where we asked for the publics help in suggesting new places, in addition to publishing similar articles on the EV organizations webpage.

Participation

Supporting programmes and funding sources The total funding was 4 million NOK each year for four years. This is about 540 000 euro annually, a total of 2 160 000 euro for the four years. The project managed to stay close to the allocated funding. For the EVUE project we got a contribution from the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. The annual budget was 540 000 Euro.

Total cost and Sources of funding

EU financial contribution Annual budget in Euro Immediate and lasting results Overall impact

The impact of the overall project was establishing public charging points for EV drivers and city inhabitants. Another impact came from the innovation that came out of the charging point. - the new charging points built by Proxll/Ensto through originally being the entrepreneur of the project. By the city being involved in the EVUE project, we have built network with other EV actors and cities, which is very valuable for future-proofing our investments. Since EV technology is changing rapidly, its important to try to get a system that will work for several years and also when on holiday with your EV in other countries. The main beneficiaries are the current and future drivers of electric vehicles. Concrete results were 400 charging points for electric vehicles in the City of Oslo. Through the EVUE project, we also managed to increase the number of public charging points in almost all the cities involved in the project. It has increased the number of electric vehicles in the city, and probably also helped car sales by EVs having a 5% share of total car sales in Norway in August 2012 and 3,1% average in 2012.

Beneficiaries Concrete results

Impact on governance

Lessons to be learnt Success factors Key factors were having a long-time goal of four years, with secure funding for all four years. The time-span was long enough to ensure that a good, stable process and routine was implemented, but also short enough in that we knew we had to start moving right away in order to reach the goal. The politicians were also important in supporting the work and making sure our job was noticed and appreciated. It was also important to have support in the Norwegian EV Drivers Association to get feedback on our work and make sure our decisions and locations were good and right. An obstacle has been to know what equipment and infrastructure to specify in the procurement. For example in Norway we get a lot of snow in the winter, so it could have been a problem if we did not

Barriers, bottlenecks and challenges

specify a charging station tall enough to be visible in 1 meter tall snow. When we ended up with a charging station that had a visible green/blue light, we also made sure we did not place it directly in front of apartment windows, to avoid being an irritation for neighbours. It has also been an obstacle when EVs evolves and the larger car manufacturers started coming with new EVs, and in the future possibly EVs that require different charging standards or equipment than we provide at the moment.

Future issues

The task of finding the correct maintenance routine and department which will be responsible for the routine, taking care of errors on equipment etc. is still on-going. It is also necessary to secure funding for the maintenance, and deciding if or when and how the EV drivers will begin to pay for the electricity they use. At the moment it is free, but eventually we will probably put in place charging stations where it will cost money to charge. There is a challenge however in making this system easy, have a business model, and make sure we dont exclude EVs from other cities or countries and make it difficult for those to charge in our city. What issues are still unresolved? The most important factor has been to be able to share similar views and challenges with other cities, discussing fast-changing and normal charging, coming to a certain degree an agreement that fast charging is better left to the market to make a business model out of (not necessary the citys, although we can help by supporting it). It has also been important in discussions when it comes to urban planning in cities, and how to support electric mobility without doing it on the expense of public transport, bicycles and walking. An EV is still a car after all, and takes up more space than bicycles. For the City of Oslo it has also been nice to show that our incentives work, and that public charging points combined with national incentives has given us the highest share of EV ownership per capita than any other nation in the world. The original project lasted from 2008 2011. The City of Oslo was given the task of establishing 100 more charging points in 2012, and for 2013 we have been told to establish 200 more.

Transnationality

Duration

In addition to this, we will be collaborating with several of the cities from the EVUE network in starting the FR-EVUE project, focusing of Freight delivery with electric vehicles in the cities. This project will last from 2013 2017. Oslo will here provide the cities with among other things, test results when using an EV in colder climate, and benchmarking towards other alternative fuel freight vehicles. Transferability Yes, the practice of establishing public charging points on public streets and parking spaces is transferrable to most other cities. Having them on public streets also ensures much higher visibility than what you get from having them in a closed parking garage. It also gives a higher impression that the City itself supports electric mobility. From an external perspective, the easy-going method of establishing charging points is worth noticing. Although we were fortunate to start with locations where there already were EVs parked, the main mission should be to get them up and running and visible to prospective EV drivers. For the City the high number of users of our charging points shows us that the publics money is well spent. For EV drives, it provides an opportunity to switch their gasoline car with an electric, and drive emission-free in their local environment. For our entrepreneur, this has become a way to invent another product in their product line and another market to be involved and earn a profit in. For the EV Drivers Association, it has been a way to share their knowledge of EVs, highlight and earn better recognition of their work for their members and internationally by achieving better conditions for EVs in Oslo.

Expert opinion

Stakeholder opinion

Information sources Name of the EVUE Electric Vehicles in Urban Europe initiative Country/region/city etc. Norway, Oslo

Administering organisation(s) Contact details of administering organisation(s) Interviewed persons

Agency for Urban Environment (formerly the Traffic Agency), City of Oslo Marianne Molmen: marianne.molmen@bym.oslo.kommune.no

The LSG: Hans H. Kvisle, Ole-Henrik Hannisdahl, Benjamin Myklebust. In addition to Daniel Molin, Frederik Martinussen, Rune Haaland

Other documentation sources

Evaluations of the EVUE transnational network meeting. Statistics available at: http://gronnbil.no/index.php Map of charging stations available at: http://www.bymiljoetaten.oslo.kommune.no/trafikk_og_samferdsel/parkering/elbilparkering_/

Website URL Main author of the case

http:/urbact.eu/evue Marianne Molmen

Charging station outside Oslo City Hall

The first 10 outdoor charging points that opened in 2008.

Downtown day-time charging station at Aker Brygge. 50 charging points, all occupied.

Night-time charging downtown.

Night-time charging in residential area.