Electromobile living

Aachen

As cooperation between the city and the public housing company, electro mobile living has overcome legal barriers of compulsory parking space provision and offer new mobility options to residents based on electric vehicles.

 

Implementing sustainable mobility

The City of Aachen – in cooperation with the public housing company – has identified residential sites for demonstrating alternative ways of connecting building management with sustainable mobility planning. The measure has overcome legal barriers of compulsory parking space provision and offer new mobility options to residents based on electric vehicles for personal mobility and goods transportation.

The residents have actively participated in the deployment of car-sharing schemes and have received a special public transport offer and other mobility services. The result is the establishment of sustainable mobility services in three residential areas (including up to 6 electric vehicles, cooperation with a local pedelec rental service in order to set up pedelec rental stations, mobility terminals for charging, etc.).

The main objectives of this measure were:

l Enhancing urban residential sites and of quality of life for up to 2,000 tenants and their living environment and reducing private car based trips through up to 6 electric vehicles (2 vehicles per housing facility), cooperation with a local pedelec rental service , special public transport offer, and additional mobility services

l Developing, demonstrating and evaluating combined and comprehensive offer of conventional and environmentally-friendly mobility services for three living districts (residential areas) in Aachen (sharing of conventional and electric vehicles, in combination with a special public transport offer)

l Strengthening citizen participation in urban development: Involvement of residents and their associations, planners, real estate operator and administrations into the design and development process for these new mobility services (using, among others, Web 2.0 applications)

l Generating and distributing electricity based on photovoltaic systems for electric mobility (vehicles and services) for one of the sites

l Promoting new mobility services and awareness-raising regarding the use of green electricity as a “fuel” for advanced urban mobility within the demonstration sites

l Supporting the urban Clean Air Plan by promoting sustainable means of mobility

l Enhancing the living environment by reduced car-ownership

How did the measure progress?

Planning and preparation

In the planning phase, three sites for the measure has been selected. The selected residential sites were in the ownership of the public housing company Gewoge and located in the extended downtown area. Due to their relatively central location and limited parking spaces all objects had the essential conditions to compound the use of e-mobility with additional services. The analysis of the tenant structures suggested a regular use of the service. The parameters for the selection of the three sites for this measure were quality of public traffic in the vicinity, tenant structure and local conditions.

Secondly, a concept has been developed for a comprehensive mobility offer for these three sites covering private car -sharing schemes with conventional and electric vehicles and a public transport offer.

The technical solutions has been planned and a photovoltaic system with intermediate storage has been installed to provide renewable energy to the electric vehicles (one site).

 Stakeholders and residents has been continuously involved in the development, design and operation of the new mobility services, with the help of:

l Setting-up of steering committee to govern the process

l 8 workshops and events with residents and tenants, stakeholders and planners

l Web 2.0-based applications enabling individual (resident) contributions

Implementation & demonstration

In the implementation phase the following tasks have been executed at the selected sites:

l Installation of charging and parking facilities

l Establishment of a car-sharing service with up to 2 electric cars

l Installation of safe and secure parking facilities for bicycles at two sites (including pedelecs)

l Installation of intelligent charging infrastructure for electric cars

l Installation of a charging facility for pedelec battery at two sites

l Transfer point technology with analysis of the vehicle charging state giving feedback to CarSharing headquarters

l Operation of mobility service for the electric cars (24/7)

What were the outcomes of the measure?

Tangible outputs:

l Establishment of new mobility services in 3 residential sites

l Up to 6 electric vehicles, cooperation with a local pedelec rental service  in order to set up a pedelec rental stations close to the buildings,  and  a special public transport offer

l Visualization of the solar electricity generation and the actual charging status of the intermediate storage (accessible to the local residents)

l Information brochure for tenants

l Campaigns for the residents

l Awareness raising campaigns for the public

l Development of a multimodal mobility offer for the residents

l Regular review of the use

Expected outcomes in the short- to medium-term:

l Transfer of comprehensive e-mobility/ PT services to other residential areas and further real estate operators

l Use of experience gathered through the active involvement of residents in other (urban) development processes

l Creation of IT and technical conditions to raise awareness for the relationship between CO2-free power generation and use of the power for mobility purposes

l New definition/ perception of public transport and related services

Expected outcomes in the mid- to long-term:

l Reduction of car ownership

l Reduction of overall mobility and energy costs

l Less required space for car parking