Decision-making in sustainable uban mobility planning: Common practice and future directions

This paper highlights the challenges for cities in selecting sustainable and cost-effective transport and mobility measures. Thereby it shall provoke thought on the implications for decision-making resulting from Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. Firstly, an understanding of the challenges of determining a transport project’s viability will be conveyed. Secondly, the paper presents five case studies of sustainable urban mobility planning and the role of project appraisal in those policy-making processes.In discussing the challenges of traditional project-appraisal and examining actual local decision-making, the paper finds some crucial challenges in the appraisal of small-scale sustainable transport activities. It concludes by highlighting potential implications of these

Electric battery and fuel cell vehicles

This review of sources has assessed existing evidence for economic benefits arising from activities fostering the use of vehicles that use electricity to power an electric motor. It is designed to support cities in their decision making and measure selection process. The article is one of 22 reviews published in this volume

Need for a holistic assessment of urban mobility measures : review of existing methods and design of a simplified approach

The lack of suitable tools to assess sustainable mobility measures' costs, benefits and overall impacts is a significant factor impeding their implementation. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is often applied to large-scale infrastructure projects, but does not capture all relevant socio-economic impacts. Small-scale but potentially highly cost-effective measures often do not have the critical mass to warrant a thorough cost-benefit analysis. This paper reviews existing assessment methodologies, including their advantages, limitations and application to different urban mobility measures, and current assessment practice in cities based on survey results. Based on these analyses, a holistic approach for project appraisal is proposed, consisting of aspects of a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) and CBA and applicable to a variety of urban mobility measures

Navigating towards efficient urban transport : a compilation of actor oriented policies and measures for developing and emerging countries

In 2008, transport accounted for 27% of the world’s total final energy consumption. Currently, we are facing a rapidly expanding transport sector with continually increasing energy consumption. In the future, emerging and developing countries especially will experience an accelerated growth in transport energy demand due to rapid population growth, urbanisation and rising per capita income. The transport sector’s inefficiency and its dependency on oil will become an economic burden for these countries. They will have to face increasing crude oil prices and uncertainties regarding energy security. Thus, there is a need for an efficient transport system and particularly for decision makers in developing and emerging countries to have access to planning advice in order to identify suitable and effective measures for low-energy urban transport. To meet this demand, existing knowledge and measures about energy efficiency in urban passenger transport was compiled and a structured introduction to energy efficiency in transport is provided. The main determinates of an energy-efficient transport system are explained and strategic approaches to increase energy efficiency are outlined. Success factors and barriers for energy efficiency policies are described. The main element of the paper is an overview of different energy efficiency policies and measures for the key actors in energy-efficient transport on local and national levels. A set of measures is assigned to each actor identified. The compilation was adapted to the circumstances in developing and emerging countries and includes examples for successful implementation of several measures. Thus, the document satisfies the need for a comprehensive introduction to energy efficiency in urban transport in developing and emerging countries

Evaluation and appraisal of sustainable and integrated urban transport projects

Investments in urban transport should deliver the maximum economic, social and environmental benefits; in times of constrained budgets, projects' economic viability is often the deciding factor. This paper discusses the current practices and challenges facing cities in assessing urban transport interventions. On this basis, it develops options for decision-makers to appraise small-scale, sustainable urban transport policy measures. The analysis of current appraisal practice shows that data requirements and complexity are cities’ main obstacles appraising projects and comparing potential alternatives. Additionally, there is often a risk that project appraisal enters the planning process too late to play any meaningful role. Conducting a Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) ex-ante is often only approved if the implementation of the measure in question is already likely. Often, a CBA is a means to access funds rather than a basis for decision-making. Project appraisal of small-scale and non-infrastructure-based measures is often simply too expensive. On the basis of these findings, the paper discusses the following alternatives to comprehensive CBAs: 1) learn from others, 2) use a simplified assessment method, 3) rely on norms and values. All of these options aim to cope with the trade-off between effort and certitude. In practice, some policy-makers may already apply one or more of these options, but this has not been documented in a systematic manner. A systematic documentation of such practices could be a major step forward for implementation of sustainable and integrated urban transport projects, as it would shed some light on the reasoning behind decisions, from which conclusions could be drawn on the likely follow-on effects thereof and also possible improvements to the process

Arbeitspapier der STROMbegleitung - Ergebnisse der Forschungsreise Indien

Im Rahmen der STROM-Begleitforschung fand eine Forschungsreise nach Indien statt. Vertreter des DLR und des Wuppertal Instituts führten dort Interviews mit regionalen Akteuren der Elektromobilität durch. Die Forschungsreisen, die auch in weiteren Regionen durchgeführt werden (USA, Europa, China, Japan), sind zentrale Elemente zweier Themenbereiche der STROM-Begleitforschung: Zum einen der Trendanalyse zu Fahrzeugtechniken und -konzepten, die spezifisch auch die internationalen Trends in der Fahrzeugtechnik betrachtet; zum anderen des weltweiten Monitorings der Elektromobilitätsarena, welches detaillierte Regionalstudien in den entsprechenden Ländern umfasst. Entsprechend der verschiedenen Inhalte der beiden Themenbereiche wurden unterschiedliche Akteure interviewt. Die Interviews, die im Rahmen der Regionalstudie Indien geführt wurden, fokussierten sich dementsprechend auf die folgenden vier Bereiche • Politischer Rahmen und Strategien (z.B. Förderprogramme und -budgets, Standards und Regularien, Infrastruktur und Stromwirtschaft) • Forschungs- und Entwicklungsschwerpunkte (z.B. Forschungsthemen, Organisation der Elektromobilitätsforschung, Kooperation zwischen den Akteuren) • Wirtschaft und Industrie (z.B. zentrale Hersteller von Elektroautos, Fahrzeugmodelle, Strategien, Geschäftsmodelle der Elektromobilität im weiteren Sinne) • Marktstruktur Verbraucher (z.B. derzeitige Bestand von Elektrofahrzeugen und Verkaufstrends, Akzeptanz von Elektrofahrzeugen, derzeitige Nutzer) Im Rahmen der Regionalstudie dienen die Interviews vor Ort zum einen dazu Informationen zu erhalten, die über die vom Regionalpartner TERI erstellten Studien hinausgehen. Insbesondere in Themenfeldern, die nur zum Teil durch öffentliche Dokumente abgedeckt werden können, sind die Interviews eine zentrale Erkenntnisquelle. Zum anderen werden bisherige Erfahrungen und Einschätzungen zur weiteren Entwicklung in den Themenfeldern abgefragt. Die Interviews die im Rahmen des internationalen Technologie-Monitorings geführt wurden, thematisierten insbesondere Fragestellungen zur Forschungslandschaft, zu Trendentwicklungen und zum Stand der Technik verschiedener Schlüsseltechnologien der Elektromobilität in der spezifischen Weltregion und im Vergleich zu weiteren Weltregionen. Die Schlüsseltechnologiefelder umfassen: • Fahrzeugkonzeption (mit detaillierten Fragen z.B. zu Antriebsstrang-Architekturen) • Leistungselektronik (z.B. Halbleiter-Materialien) • Elektrische Maschine (z.B. Substitution Permanentmagnete) • Thermomanagement (z.B. Luftkühlung) und • Leichtbau (z.B. Bauweisen und Materialien) Neben diesen Schwerpunktfeldern wurden je nach Interviewpartner z.T. auch Fragestellungen zu Brennstoffzellen-Systemen und Traktionsbatterien aufgegriffen. Der Großteil der Interviews wurde in Delhi durchgeführt. Daneben reisten die Mitarbeiter des DLR nach Bangalore, um dort mit Mitarbeitern von Industrieunternehmen zu sprechen, welche Produkte und Technologien im Bereich der Elektromobilität anbieten

Towards a post-fossil urban transport system : an actor-oriented approach

Mobility in urban areas offers a huge potential to decouple transport from fossil fuels. Energy efficiency and fuel diversification are key. Many policies and measures towards post-fossil transport are available, but information on implementation responsibilities is insufficient. The present paper goes beyond the definition of suitable policies and measures, but identifies key actors in transforming urban transport towards less oil dependency. It is analysed how each key actor can contribute to a post-fossil fuel transport system and their role in the development and realisation of policies and measures is defined. To describe the effects of each actor’s activities, policies and measures are allocated to the four different components of a post-fossil transport system: system efficiency, travel efficiency, vehicle efficiency and alternative fuels. This process uncovers main actors for each building block of a sustainable transport system. The analysis shows that responsibilities for post-fossil transport are spread among different municipal departments and national ministries. Instruments to reduce the travel activity or to increase the share of energy-efficient modes are mainly in the responsibility of local authorities, whereas instruments to improve vehicle fuel economy and to introduce alternative fuels are in the hand of national ministries. Furthermore, many policies and measures need interdepartmental or interministerial support for successful implementation. Close cooperation between key actors is necessary to steer urban transport towards less fossil-fuel dependency