Article
citation information:
Sierpiński, G., Staniek, M. Platform
to support the implementation of electromobility in smart cities based on ICT
applications - concept for an electric travelling project. Scientific Journal of Silesian University of Technology. Series
Transport. 2018, 100, 181-189.
ISSN: 0209-3324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20858/sjsutst.2018.100.15.
Grzegorz SIERPIŃSKI[1],
Marcin STANIEK[2]
PLATFORM TO
SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTROMOBILITY IN SMART CITIES BASED ON ICT
APPLICATIONS - CONCEPT FOR AN ELECTRIC TRAVELLING PROJECT
Summary. The concept of an
innovative tool for supporting electromobility development is presented in this
paper. The main aim is intended to ease the implementation and further
development of electromobility in urban and suburban areas. The final outcome
of the research is a tool, which includes integrated modules related to travel
and charging point location planning and simulation.
Keywords: electromobility; sustainable transport; ICT;
urban planning.
1. INTRODUCTION
Dynamic changes, either
enforced by law or resulting from the current situation in the centres of large
cities, make it difficult to predict the real future shape of transport systems
in urban areas. Guidelines or recommendations regarding directions for
developing EU transport systems were included in consecutive white papers and
communications [16]. A comprehensive approach is needed using a variety of
measures, including the integration of planning, organization, policy and law.
To promote change in the modal split, people who travel need to be incentivized
and, from a long-term perspective, realize change in their travel behaviour
[7]. The second area of initiatives includes technologies enabling a reduction
in noise, emissions into the environment and the use of non-renewable
resources. One of the important documents defining the European strategy for
the use of alternative fuels, from 24 January 2013 [3], draws attention to
threats related to the high oil dependence in Europe (in relation to mobility
and transport). Electricity was listed among the alternative fuel sources
listed in the document. In the white paper, “Roadmap to a Single European
Transport Area White Paper COM (2011) 144 final”, the EU has set a target
to “halve the use of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars in urban
transport by 2030 and phase them out in cities by 2050”.
In 2016, another
competition was announced as part of the ERANET programme. Known as the
Electric Mobility Europe Call, the expected outcomes are likely to include the
following [4]:
- intensified
uptake of electromobility in urban and suburban areas
- improved
connectivity between electric vehicles and the existing infrastructure
- increased
choice for customers or consumers seeking to reduce the environmental
impact of their travel
The paper deals with the
concept of an innovative tool related to the project “Electric Travelling
- Platform to Support the Implementation of Electromobility in Smart Cities
Based on ICT Applications” project (hereafter “ET project”),
which started in 2018. The following chapters include the identification of the
main aim of the project and the proposed structure of the innovative tool, as
well as the expected impacts for citizens and urban areas.
2. MAIN AIM OF THE ELECTRIC
TRAVELLING PROJECT
When defining
sustainable development [1,9,11,21], it is necessary to have complete knowledge
of current transport systems, but also actual travel needs. Meanwhile,
sustainable transport includes technologies that enable a reduction in noise,
emissions into the environment and the use of non-renewable resources.
There is still a lack of
universal tools to solve more than one or two problems at the same time.
Analyses of existing travel planners show that these tools mostly use only time
and distance criteria, with only a few using environmental criteria [2,6,12].
It is important to prepare more complex solutions as integrated systems, which
will have directly and indirectly impact on travel behaviours, especially those
related to electromobility. The ET project, due to its complexity, is the
answer to both needs by developing a complex ICT system known as ETSys On the
one hand, it is directly addressed at travellers, while, on the other side, the
system’s final functions and routing processes are related to parameters,
which will be set by local authorities. Moreover, some modules of the proposed
ETSys will have an indirect impact in changing current travelling behaviour
because they will suggest to local authorities the measures to be implemented
in order to achieve the correct changes [5].
ETSys aims to strongly
support the implementation of electromobility based on two innovative points or
general added values (a step beyond the current state-of-the-art situation) [5,
23-25]:
- From
a micro perspective, the extension of current routing algorithms and
travel planning tools with a focus on electromobility, which will include
the possibility to prioritize areas of electromobility using a heuristic
approach in relation to the road network of the city and a daily activity
chain optimization algorithm, which will be open to independent ITS input
information. These two elements will result in ETPlanner, which will be
friendlier for electric vehicle (EV) users and, from a long-term
perspective, see a rapid growth in the number of EV users in the city.
- From
a macro perspective, the final integrated ETSys will include modules that
will allow for the optimal allocation of charging stations (based on many
input parameters), the analysis of emissions in detail and the comparison
of scenarios. ETSys will become a powerful tool to support decision-making
in local authorities (infrastructure managers, public administrations
etc.). The implemented functions (among others, big data to understand
daily travel patterns and their day-to-day fluctuations, and an LCA tool,
which includes EV and multi-agent simulation and scenario comparison) will
provide a guide for the development of a proper strategy in the design and
implementation of the charging infrastructure.
Both elements are
intrinsically related, embodied in the concept of the future traveller and
aligned with the objective of developing new knowledge about different aspects
of travelling to support electromobility patterns.
Given its
interdisciplinary character, the ET project has required a diverse research
team. Thus, an international consortium was established under the leadership of
Saitec. The team consists of researchers and scientists representing companies
and scientific institutions from four European countries: Saitec, Factor CO2
and DeustoTech (Spain), Silesian University of Technology (Poland), Budapest
University of Technology and Economics (Hungary), and the Delft University of
Technology and Over Morgen (the Netherlands).
3. ETSYS ARCHITECTURE
The ET project is
intended to ease the implementation and further development of electromobility
in urban and suburban areas. The project results will provide adequate ICT
tools to identify smart electromobility solutions adapted to specific urban or
suburban areas, which will facilitate the introduction of EVs and the required
charging stations in the existing transport infrastructure.
ETSys provides a set of
modules in one integrated system, which will give local authorities powerful
tools to analyse and find the best solutions to foster electromobility. It will
offer simulations of current and user-defined what-if scenarios, where the
optimization algorithms will allocate charging stations and evaluate the impact
of the solution. City authorities can use this system to allow travellers to
plan their trips, but in accordance with some prioritized criteria.
As the final outcome of
the ET project, ETSys will include the following integrated modules
(Figure 1) [5]:
·
ETPlanner - A door-to-door travel planner with a routing optimizer
(including greener criteria to minimize environmental impact) ready for EVs and
directed at promoting this travel mode. This includes a daily travel chain
optimization method and an advanced heuristic approach to allow local
authorities to prioritize areas of electromobility in the city. The multimodal
travel planner will allow data to be collected from users’ queries.
·
ETCharge - This includes an optimal multicriteria allocation algorithm
for charging stations. This module will support charging infrastructure
planning in cities by estimating the current demand and forecasting future
demand for charging stations.
·
ETSim - This is a multi-agent simulator, which will simulate people
travelling in a selected area (based on routes estimated by ETPlanner).
Simulation results will be compared for different scenarios (current state, new
charging point location from ETCharge and several incentives).
·
ETReport - This reports on the module addresses for local authorities
and presents the simulation results. It can serve as a guide as to how to
develop the transport system to achieve faster progress with the introduction
of EVs in the city or in increasing their number.
Fig. 1. Proposed modules
of the ETSys platform with two kinds of user
Source: own research
Furthermore, the
proposed system will be open so that it can be connected to other existing ITS
components, by using specified protocols for data exchange. ETSys, as the final
outcome of the ET project, will facilitate the introduction of EV-friendly transport
policies in cities, while, at the same time, more quickly change the travel
behaviour of citizens.
4. RESEARCH AREAS AND
EXPECTED IMPACT
Three cities were
selected as research areas: The Hague, Sosnowiec and Zalaegerszeg, from the Netherlands, Poland and Hungary,
respectively. The selected cities are open to electromobility trends and
represent different levels of electromobility development. From the list, The
Hague is a leader based on the number of existing charging points, while the
other cities have only a few (Figure 2). It is important, when carrying out
comprehensive tests and validation of the project’s product, that the
optimized integration of electromobility into the transport system of the
cities is supported.
The expected impacts, from
a long-term perspective, and the related steps in the ET project are as follows
[5]:
·
Increasing number of charging points in urban and suburban areas, which
will move electromobility into the transport mainstream. This can be one of the
results of simplifying decision-making with regard to proper charging station
locations.
·
Increasing the number of EV users, as a result of improved connectivity
between EVs and the existing infrastructure, will tackle barriers such as
people’s perceptions about EVs in terms of limited range, poor
infrastructure etc.
·
Increasing the number of people with knowledge of the environmental
impact of transport and more pro-ecological solutions (improved public
acceptance for electromobility) by using the final product of the project, both
directly and indirectly, so as to change travel behaviour.
·
Including EVs in the current modal split of traffic, as well as raising
the importance in the literature of EVs in traffic, to bring about changes in
travel behaviour. Currently, the modal split in traffic models often neglects
personal electrics cars as a separate group of means of transport. EVs have
different characteristics in terms of parameters and should be analysed
separately.
·
Pollution and noise reduction in urban areas, thereby reducing
Europe’s carbon emissions, improving air quality, decreasing noise
pollution and supporting economic growth by increasing the percentage of EVs
used for travel.
·
Improving current transport systems according to the real needs of
travellers based on big data collected from system users (this depends on the
number of final ETSys users).
·
Greater integration of existing transport systems in cities. ETSys is a
complex solution, which can be connected to others currently existing in the
cities.
·
Accelerating electromobility development in Europe. ETSys will be
universal and related to some input data, which can be collected from different
parts of Europe as well. This means that ETSys may be implemented in other
cities.
a) 
b)
c) 
Fig. 2. Research areas
with existing charging points: a) The Hague, b) Sosnowiec and
c) Zalaegerszeg
Source: own research
based on [8,10]
5. CONCLUSION
The described ET project
offers new possibilities for changing travel behaviour by expanding the
functionalities of travel planners and drawing special attention to
electromobility. The project will assist travellers in choosing the travel mode
(includes EVs) and route (by using ICT applications), as well as support local
authorities in the definition of appropriate directions for the development of
electromobility.
In the future, it will
be possible to think about using artificial intelligence methods, which are
already used today in many areas of life [17-20,22].
Decarbonizing the
transportation sector is one of the main challenges facing the whole world
[14,15]. A change in the way of thinking is necessary to promote
electromobility or other new, clean and sustainable technology for vehicles
[13]. For instance, EVs are more efficient from an energy point of view, more economic
in terms of consumption and more environmentally friendly compared to internal
combustion engine vehicles. To highlight the benefits of EV technology for
ETSys users, it will always show a comparison between the journeys by the
selected means of transport and an EV. People must obtain full knowledge of the
impacts that each means of transport involve in order to make the proper travel
decisions. Local authorities, throughout ETSys, will receive a powerful tool to
help with decision-making problems about the development of transport
infrastructure related to electromobility.
Interdisciplinary and
international cooperation on the project provides an opportunity for
implementing innovative solutions and more importantly universal ones, which
are independent from the area in which they are applied. According to European
guidelines and plans for the near future, it is possible that initiatives such
as the ET project may have an important influence on transport systems in
cities.
Acknowledgements
The present research has
been financed by the National Centre for Research and Development as part of an
international project within the scope of the ERA-NET CoFund Electric Mobility
Europe Programme, “Electric Travelling - Platform to Support the Implementation
of Electromobility in Smart Cities Based on ICT Applications”.
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Received 03.04.2018; accepted in revised form 19.08.2018
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