Sustainable mobility model

It is only in the last couple of years that the viability of all-electric vehicles for day to day transport has begun to be recognised. Back in 2000, that was not the case, certainly in Italy, where a few pilot projects involving EVs were carried out with negative results. It is against this background, that the innovative Reggio Emilia eco-rental experience must be assessed.
January 27, 2012 Read time: 4 mins
"The Reggio Emilia project has triggered a virtuous mechanism"

Project:
Reggio Emilia eco-rental initiative
Environmental record: (to 31 December 2010)

• Total km covered: 9,990,336
• CO2 reduction: 999,034kg
• NOx reduction: 2,098kg
• Reduction of PM10: 549kg
• Savings on fuel: 832,528 litres
• Kw/h consumed (estimate): 2,180,775
• Local emissions: zero
• Considerable noise reductionIt is only in the last couple of years that the viability of all-electric vehicles for day to day transport has begun to be recognised. Back in 2000, that was not the case, certainly in Italy, where a few pilot projects involving EVs were carried out with negative results. It is against this background, that the innovative Reggio Emilia eco-rental experience must be assessed.

Integrated Transports Logistics (TIL), a limited liability company with public capital indirectly controlled by both the municipal and the provincial authorities of Reggio Emilia, in Italy, was charged with organising and managing collective mobility services that would provide public authorities, traders, artisans and shopkeepers with the opportunity to rent an electric van at competitive rates.

TIL's goal was to incubate and grow an innovative project for sustainable mobility based on EVs and to firmly establish the use of these clean vehicles as the ideal means of transport for work activities carried out in the centre of this beautiful Italian city.

The Econoleggio hire without driver service would guarantee the efficiency of the EV, an indispensable condition for the success of the project in overcoming the prejudice that existed surrounding effective operation of EVs and also guarantee comprehensive after-sales support.

Project begins

Reggio Emilia's ministry of the environment (RONCHI) issued a decree to have employees of its municipal authorities and leading public companies use EVs in the city centre for work purposes. The project got underway in January 2001, with 46 electric Piaggio Porters for public companies. This was followed in June 2002 with another 76 of the vehicles being made available for municipal authorities.
In December 2003, TIL launched AriaMia, Reggio Emilia's first eco-rental initiative aimed specifically at the city's business community. Initially, 30 all-electric Piaggio Porters were were provided by TIL for shopkeepers, artisans and small entrepreneurs for a monthly rental fee of only e300 (US$425). Take-up was such that an additional 20 EVs were quickly added to the fleet.

Via Libera, a new initiative from TIL, was launched in 2005. This, with the support of the Province of Reggio Emilia, reduced rental fees so that the EVs became more affordable for local businesses and private individuals and also provided additional incentives for users of the service.

By the end of 2005, Reggio Emilia had over 170 all-electric vehicles being used daily in its city, and the formula for the successful development of eco-mobility had been proven. Key drivers for success were that the public authority was the first to take the risk on EVs, providing leadership by example to local public companies, local traders and small businesses as well as the population in general. The perceived benefits of sustainable eco-mobility were further promoted by incentives, such as free parking and 24-hour access to restricted traffic areas.

What also worked for the programme was the obvious reduction of polluting emissions, considerable noise reduction, economic savings on fuel of over 70 per cent, as well as a noticeable improvement of the image of public authorities, traders and businesses.Continued development The scheme continues to develop. Users' positive feedback led to the launch last year of a new service, called "playPorter". This initiative aims to continue to encourage the use of EVs not just in the daily work of artisans, shopkeepers and small businesses, but also as a 'second car' for individuals and families. The next phase of the eco-rental model will be development and integration of a network of charging stations to widen their range and the accessibility of the service.

Roberto Badalotti, managing director of TIL, summarises what the project has achieved: "The 'Reggio Emilia' project has triggered a virtuous mechanism that has led, by the end of 2010, to the daily circulation in the city of 315 electric vehicles, with all the resulting benefits. The project has also demonstrated how best practices, implemented with determination by the municipal authorities for the last 11 years, can generate an acute environmental awareness and a change of mentality in its citizens."

Related Content

  • ITS asset management matters
    April 26, 2013
    Maintenance of on-road ITS kit needs to become more sophisticated; while new technologies can deliver better road maintenance. David Crawford investigates both sides of the issue "Good information is key to effective ITS asset maintenance,” says Ian Routledge of the Ian Routledge Consultancy (IRC), whose Imtrac (Information Management for TRAffic Control) system is poised for European expansion. Developed as an ‘intelligent filing cabinet’ for storing information about on-road equipment, the online database
    Read More
  • Kapsch’s scalable tolling back office accepts mixed feeds
    September 15, 2014
    Arno Klamminger and Wolfgang Fleischer from Kapsch’s ETC Business Unit outline a new back office solution which addresses the ongoing changes in the road user charging sector. The rapidly increasing scale of some Road User Charging (RUC) schemes, both current and proposed, presents systems developers and manufacturers with significant opportunities in terms of product sales. However, it also presents them with significant challenges - and size is but one part – as at regional, national and international lev
    Read More
  • IBTTA 2011 Annual Meeting highlights developing trends in tolling
    January 26, 2012
    Alain Estiot, chief meeting organiser of this year's IBTTA Annual Meeting and Exhibition, talks about hot topics for discussion. The IBTTA's 79th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, which takes place this year in Berlin in September, will once again take many of the developing trends from around the world and look at their effects on the tolling sector. Host organisation Toll Collect's Alain Estiot, chief meeting organiser, says that the event has to be viewed against a backdrop of major global change.
    Read More
  • Progressing work zone safety systems
    February 1, 2012
    David Crawford investigates progress in a key safety area - work zones. Highway construction zone safety is taken seriously enough in the US to merit a special spring National Work Zone Awareness Week, which in 2010 ran from 19-23 April. Headed by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), this aims to reduce an annual toll of work zone deaths - 720 in 2008 (an average of one every 10 hours) with more than 40,000 traffic injuries (an average of one every 13 minutes).
    Read More

Highlighted Content