The B2B platform for full-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: Industry News

Austria’s regions set the pace with projects in electric mobility. While the most Western region Vorarlberg has a fleet of 75 EVs up and running, the Eastern region Steiermark has created a centre of excellence dedicated to explore new solutions in EV technologies.

One year after the project start of VLOTTE I, 75 electric vehicles (EVs) are roaming the mountainous streets of Vorarlberg supplied by 32 charging stations installed on strategic locations throughout the region. The project has been enthusiastically welcomed by the local population and its impetus is only restrained by the lack of available EV models on the market to satisfy demand. 200 people are inscribed in the waiting lists for VLOTTE II which has started with the beginning of this year and intends to further expand the project in scale and scope.

The huge success of VLOTTE I and the national as well as international media attention have prompted the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund, who had sponsored the project with 4.7 million euro, to grant further 551.000 euro in order to initiate a second phase of the project. Central element of this second phase is the creation of so called mobility hubs, rental centres for electric vehicles, electric scooters and electric bikes. The first of these mobility hubs will be built in the famous skiing village Lech am Arlberg.

Power supply from renewable energies

VLOTTE II strives to augment the fleet of currently 75 EVs to 250 electric vehicles in the field, opens the project to single-lane electric vehicles and implements structures for car-sharing. Electric mobility is integrated into the local tourism concept and charging infrastructure is continuously expanded.

The long-term aim is to convert one out of three Vorarlberger to electric mobility. Currently there are 250.000 vehicles licensed in the region. If all of those were to be converted into electric vehicles, the required amount of energy would sum up to 500 GWhs. According to the president of the local power company, this demand can be covered through extension of the water power plant network already in place.

The power currently consumed by the VLOTTE project is generated from renewable sources, coming partially from water power plants and partially from explicitly for the purpose of this project constructed photovoltaic plants.

In search for standards and viable solutions

In the city area of Graz, Austria’s second biggest city, the automotive supplier Magna, the regional power company Energie Steiermark and the municipal public utility company Graz AG join forces in order to test and further develop concepts for sustainable electric mobility.

The test fleet comprising 30 electric vehicles supplied by 40 charging stations in the city area of Graz is to roll out by the end of 2011 and will be fully deployed throughout 2012. By 2014, Magna plans on expanding the EV test fleet with in-house EV models, supposed to enter in concurrence with EV models of the established automotive manufacturers.

Main objectives of the EV project in Graz are to test the usability of EVs in daily life, explore technical challenges such as the impact of EV charging on the electric grid, cashless payment transactions for charging on e-filling pumps and customers’ needs, as well as to develop standards for EV infrastructure.

The close cooperation of manufacturers and power suppliers in this project as well as more generally in the Austrian Mobile Power – a cooperation platform bringing together stakeholders from industry, public and research institutions – can help develop and impose standards that are crucially needed for future transregional expansion of electric mobility networks.