Local Incentives for EV Adoption

Organised by Urban Foresight, in partnership with Transport Scotland, the event was held today at the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) in Edinburgh.

Providing international insight from Copenhagen, Kåre Albrechtsen outlined some of the activities that Copenhagen Electric were undertaking to increase uptake of electric vehicles in Denmark including a series of public procurement and partnership agreements, car sharing and communication and branding exercises. Stephen Rennie of TTR Ltd also presented case studies from cities across Europe demonstrating that a range of different approaches can, and indeed are being undertaken to facilitate EV uptake.

Dialing in from Berlin, Germany, Rouven Faasch demonstrated Ubitricity’s innovative docking station for universal grid integration anywhere, termed as “the mobile phone for EV charging”.

“Do Not Adjust Your Vision” said York City Council’s Derek McReadie, illustrating how ambition, resilience and innovation have rewarded the city’s multi-modal and holistic Low Emission Strategy. This includes the 2018 introduction of UK’s first Clean Air Zone, agreed as part of the Council’s Air Quality Action Plan. Whilst Sheffield City Council’s Mark Daly shared his experiences and lessons of best practice from the Electric Vehicles Inmotion! partnership. The scheme which supports businesses with EV uptake is used to help local businesses grow in a sustainable manner, cut operating costs and reduce carbon emissions.

Research into predicting demand for on-street charging was presented by David Connolly of Systra, who have developed a tool to help users optimise the provision of public on-street recharging infrastructure (OPOSRI) in collaboration with Strathclyde University.

Discussing elements of good practice for local measures, Gloria Esposito from the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership emphasised that local incentives can help overcome barriers to EV use. The importance of collaboration, communication and consistency for increasing uptake was also discussed.

We need to transfer our enthusiasm and knowledge of EVs to the public said Zak Tuck of Transport Scotland in his closing remarks, adding that “Incentives can’t be there forever – we need to think how to effectively and efficiently move away from them in the long term once they’ve demonstrated their success and the market is providing a stable level of support so that they are no longer required.”

The speakers’ presentations are available here.