Planet Electric – 21st & 22nd March
A world-leader in electrification and EV policy framework, Norway is around 5-10 years ahead of the rest of the world.
Once again, they hosted a compelling event; the Nordic EV Summit 2019. The main aim of this year’s summit was to share valuable insights and expertise; which is essential for other Countries, Cities and industries as we face pivotal changes to achieve zero emission in the transport sector.
As the International Energy Agency predicts that the number of electric cars in the world could be as high as 220 million units by 2030, and all of them must be charged with renewable energy, this year’s Nordic EV Summit took on a global perspective, with four central themes:
- Ramping up production
- Charging from pole to pole
- The Norwegian policy kit: can it be exported?
- Barriers, carriers and consumer choice
Guest Speakers
Speakers at this year’s event included Fully Charged Shows’ Robert Llewellyn, Sustainability Advocate Monica Araya, Oslo Vice Mayor Lan Marie Berg, Bloomberg New Energy Finance‘s Colin McKerracher and many more.
Solisco’s CEO Parveen Begum was also invited as a guest speaker at this years Nordic EV Summit.
‘Recognising that there are severe environmental challenges that the next generation faces, Parveen is genuinely motivated to bring her visionary ideas and knowledge to contribute towards a sustainable planet.’
On the 22nd March, Solisco presented the Smart Energy & Transportation Charging Hub (SETCH) project at the summit; a project that the company has been working on as a result of winning an Innovate UK/OLEV competition earlier this year.
Parveen spoke about the importance of smart charging technology to the energy and transport sectors, as well as combining blockchain technology, mobility as a service and peer-to-peer energy trading opportunities.
The presentation was followed by a panel discussion around smart charging, where Parveen was accompanied by Edgeir Aksnes of Tibber, Tormod Bergheim from the Norwegian EV Association and Francisco Sierra from Nissan.
Learning from the Leaders in Electrification
Oslo – Europe’s Greenest City
In 2019, Oslo attained the title of Europe’s Greenest City. Since 2013, Oslo’s atmospheric CO2 emissions have been reducing every year, due to the City’s successful efforts to clean their transport and energy sectors. Market shares for new cars in Oslo have been dominated by battery electric vehicles, with a 77% majority over petrol, diesel and plug in hybrids.
Market shares for new cars in Oslo have been dominated by BEVs
Bergen – EV capital of the World
Taking the mantle from Oslo this year as the EV capital of the World is Bergen. The City’s transport and mobility strategy for 2030 places significant focus on addressing climate change. Key elements include; coordinated and climate friendly land use and transport planning, shifting towards sustainable modes of transport, shared mobility, encouraging change in mobility culture and transitioning to zero emission technologies to phase out fossil fuels.
Bergen has placed emphasis on the transport system of the future needing to be diverse. Incorporating not just electrification, but encouraging walking and cycling, shared journey options with public transport or car-share clubs and if suitable – automation. Bergen understands that these elements require changes from a city development platform as much as an end-user, cultural shift. Bergen has therefore attempted to address the barriers to clean transport adoption.
With regards to EVs, charging is provided by the city for shared electric vehicles, public residential parking and street level charging in urban residential areas. The city has also increased support for common charging facilities in housing co-operatives, all in the aim to make the technology more accessible. In the first month of 2019, Bergen attained an impressive market share of 55% EVs, compared to 15% PHEV and 30% ICE vehicles; proving the effectiveness of their policies in influencing consumer behavioural change.
Reduction in carbon emissions year on year
Mobility as a Service – Whim
MaaS – Mobility as a Service; it brings a variety of different mobility platforms under a holistic approach platform. Whim is the first, all-inclusive MaaS solution, commercially available on the market. It is an app that gives its users all city transport services in one step, letting them journey where and when they want with public transport, taxis, bikes, cars, and other options, all under a single subscription.
The company performed a series of tests on their operations in Helsinki. They found that Whim users combine taxi travel with public transport three times more often on average compared to non-whim users. 42% of users combined their public transport trips with city bike trips.
Like many speakers at the 2019 Nordic summit, Whim realizes the importance public transport has to cleaning the transport sector, reducing congestion and improving city planning. It aims to address the current scape of mobility spending. In Europe, the monthly average cost of owning a car is €616 with an average time of use being just 4%. 76% of funding in placed in road vehicles compared to just 24% on public or shared transport. Whim aims to increase the percentage for the latter to 100%.
Lithium Battery Ethics
Matjaz Krivic and crisis reporter Bostjan Videmsek presented their Lithium Road photo project at the summit to raise awareness for the materials extraction process. The project illustrates this new gold rush for the modern age, where batteries are the social and industrial game changers of our time. As the need for effective climate protection gets stronger, the development of cleaner energy is gaining momentum. At the same time, a key part of the solution, lithium, and the production of the material, is not without its own hazards and sins. The project followed the timeline of the material; from investment and prospecting in the US, mining in Bolivia, production in China, to Norway; leading the way in electrifying all transport.
Battery ethics is a major topic, the studies done by Amnesty International on the Democratic Republic of Congo show extremely unsafe working conditions, child labor and exploitation. Another reason for why waste from this technological revolution must not be overlooked.
Policies Driving EV Uptake
From the Bloomberg representative Colin McKerracher to the mayors speaking of their respective constituencies, it was apparent that European action on cleaning transport requires effective and well-intentioned strategies that are influenced by an in-depth understanding of the market dynamics.
The reduction of private car ownership and increased public transport usage was a common target among delegates at the event. Establishing easier to use, more affordable and accessible transport alongside subsidies from policy makers was emphasized to be a crucial driver for influencing social change. Living labs, increased research and development was required to bring forth better, more effective technologies and carbon emissions reductions needed to be in line with the aims of the Paris Agreement.
The Chairman of the board of Volkswagen – Mr. Herbert Diess stated:
“To stop global warming, there is no way we can get past the Paris Agreement. To achieve this goal, cars must get cleaner as soon as possible, and at the latest, CO2 free by 2050. E-mobility is the only technology that can achieve this from today’s point of view.”
