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European Alternative Fuels Observatory

European funded projects

Cities and regions across Europe act as test beds and demonstration sites to apply and validate the technological advancements in the field of alternative fuels, often through EU-funded projects.

This section collects flagship initiatives to showcase and inspire how innovation is being applied 'on the ground', including best practices and project outputs.

Are you a coordinator of a relevant EU-funded project? Complete a form and your project will be displayed in this section.

European funded projects

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eCharge4Drivers - Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure for improved User Experience

The EU-funded eCharge4Drivers project will improve the user experience as regards available charging options and services.

Specifically, it will develop and demonstrate user-friendly charging stations, smart services and charging solutions, including mobile charging and battery swapping stations. User-centric services such as route planning, booking, and charging location planning will be developed to further improve users' experience and foster e-mobility growth.

The work will start with wide surveys in 10 demonstration areas, to capture the a priori users’ perceptions and expectations as regards the various charging options and their mobility and parking habits. Based on the survey findings and after matching with the perspective of authorities, operators and service providers, the project will develop and demonstrate in 10 areas, including metropolitan areas and TEN T corridors, easy-to-use, scalable and modular, high- and low-power charging stations, low-power DC charging stations and components with improved connection efficiency and standardised stations for LEVs. All stations will offer various direct payment methods and bigger user-friendly displays. The charging stations and all actors’ back-ends will support the ISO 15118 Plug & Charge feature and will enable the standardised transfer of enhanced information in the ecosystem, thus enabling the interoperability of communication and the provision of more sophisticated services to the users before, during and after the charging process, including smart charging services. The project will demonstrate additional convenient charging options within cities, a mobile charging service, charge points at lamp posts and networks of battery swapping stations for LEVs.

Using the knowledge generated, the project will propose an EV Charging Location Planning Tool to determine the optimum mix of charging options to cover the user needs. It will conclude with recommendations for legal and regulatory harmonisation and guidelines for investors and authorities for the sustainability of charging infrastructure and services.

Participating public authorities

Urban areas

  • Grenoble-Alpes (FR)
  • Barcelona (ES)
  • Bari (IT)
  • Berlin (DE)
  • Luxembourg (LU)
  • Zellik (BE)

TEN-T

  • Austria
  • North-Italy
  • Istanbul &amspan; Western Turkey
  • Greece

Cordis link & TRIMIS link to project

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure for improved User Experience | eCharge4Drivers Project | Fact Sheet | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission (europa.eu)

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure for improved User Experience | TRIMIS (europa.eu)

Project contacts (coordinator & communication manager OR contact page link)

Coordinator: Angelos Amditis, ICCS, a.amditis@iccs.gr

Communication manager: info@eCharge4Drivers.eu

Project website

Duration
-
Transport mode
Road
Transport sector
Passenger
Geographical dimension
TEN-T, Urban, Transnational
Budget

€18,405,861
EU Contribution: €14,424,526

Funded under
Coordinated by

ICCS

Greece

SCALE (Smart Charging Alignment for Europe)

SCALE (Smart Charging Alignment for Europe) is a three-year Horizon Europe project that explores and tests smart charging solutions for electric vehicles. It aims to advance smart charging and Vehicle-2-Grid (V2G) ecosystems to shape a new energy system wherein the flexibility of EV batteries’ is harnessed. The project will test and validate a variety of smart charging and V2X solutions and services in 13 use cases in real-life demonstrations in 7 European contexts: Oslo (NO), Rotterdam/Utrecht (NL), Eindhoven (NL), Toulouse (FR), Greater Munich Area (GER), Budapest/Debrecen (HU) and Gothenburg (SE).  Going further, project results, best practices, and lessons learned will be shared across EU cities, regions, and relevant e-mobility stakeholders. SCALE aims to create a system blueprint for user-centric smart charging and V2X for European cities and regions. 

SCALE’s consortium comprises 29 cutting-edge European e-mobility actors covering the entire smart charging and V2X value chain (equipment and charging manufacturers, flexibility service providers, research and knowledge partners, public authorities, consumer associations, etc.). It is led by ElaadNL, one of the world’s leading knowledge and innovation centres in smart charging and charging infrastructure.

Contribution to EAFO

Both SCALE and EAFO have a strong focus on electric vehicles and smart charging networks. Through the observatory, SCALE could share its findings, best practices and achievements in its 13 real-live demonstrations. The project could also join the Sustainable Transport Forum to provide inputs particularly for local governments on EV charging ecosystems, as well as other stakeholders on the value chain.

Duration
-
Transport mode
Road
Transport sector
Passenger, Freight
Geographical dimension
Urban, regional, TEN-T
Budget

€ 10,000,000

Funded under
Coordinated by

Stichting ElaadNL

Netherlands