Local promotion of electric mobility in cities: Guidelines and real application case in Italy

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) Vol. 95; pp. 494 - 503
• Main Authors: Comodi, G., Caresana, F., Salvi, D., Pelagalli, L., Lorenzetti, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2016
• Subjects: Charging; Charging stations; Electric cars; Electric mobility plan; Electric utilities; EV (Electric vehicles); Financing; Guidelines; Infrastructure; Local energy planning; Promotion; Smart cities; Stations; Urban mobility; MED, Italy; Charging stations; Electric mobility plan; EV (Electric vehicles); Urban mobility; Smart cities; Local energy planning
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2015.12.038

In the contest of European and National choices regarding energy and mobility policies, the goal of this paper is to introduce reasonable guidelines for the local promotion of electric mobility in an area of central Italy and possibly to extend the methodology to other regions/countries. In fact, the path towards car electrification is started worldwide, but the rate of increase of electrically powered cars will depend primarily on charging stations availability. In this respect, utilities that manage/own local grids may be key actors by investing on infrastructures and thus locally creating the conditions for the spreading of electric cars. A techno-economic analysis of the investment of a local utility has been performed taking into account medium- and long term-forecasts of electricity and fuel prices, as well as electric cars market share and economic risk. The study proved that an investment in urban charging station infrastructure in Italy can be profitable even without incentives, with a payback period of 4–5 years. The results of the analysis have been exploited by an Italian utility which owns/manages the local electric grid in two municipalities. The first steps of the plan implementation, which started in 2014, are reported in the paper.
•Guidelines to promote electric mobility at local scale are discussed.•Methodology and data set are provided that are extendable to different contexts.•An economic analysis was performed resulting in a charging stations business plan.•Taking into account unavoidable uncertainties different scenarios are considered.•A real implementation started in 2014 by an Italian local utility is described.