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24.05.2013:
One week left to apply for EUR 7,000 funding
23.05.2013:
What Cities Want study looks into tomorrow
21.05.2013:
CityMobil2 project launches its website
Amsterdam
Status Quo
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, with an urban population of about 1,364,000 and a metropolitan population of about 2,158,000. The city is located in the province of North Holland in the west of the country. It comprises the northern part of the Randstad, the sixth-largest metropolitan area in Europe, with a population of approximately 8.1 million.
TPG Post Pakketservice running 56 vehicles on 100% biodiesel in Amsterdam. In 2006-2007 the 56 delivery vans of TPG Post Pakketservice that are used to deliver packages six days a week all around the Amsterdam area are running on 100% biodiesel. The project aims to make the vehicles more environmentally friendly. The target for the trial was a 50% reduction of particulate matter (pm10) and CO2 emission. (Bio-diesel itself is CO2 neutral, but due to production losses the target was set at 50%). Main reason to choose bio diesel was that the present vans (Volkswagen LT) could drive on bio-diesel without modification. When using EU certified bio diesel there is no change in the warranty conditions. The 56 delivery vans use around 120,000 litres of bio diesel per year. On the average the vehicles drove about 40 kilometres a day.
Since 2003 27 fuel cell powered buses were tested in nine European cities as part of the European project Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE). Three of these busses are operated by the Amsterdam public transport company GVB between 2003 and 2008. GVB wants to contribute to a sustainable society and reduce negative effects of its activities on the environment. Given the potential benefits of this type of propulsion (zero emission of polluting gases and less noise) it is very important that this technology will be further developed and tested in real life.
In the Netherland the City of Amsterdam is one of the precursors promoting e-mobility. The city has defined the ambigious aim to 100% substituting conventional commercial and private traffic by e-mobility in the city center. Until 2015 about 10.000 electro vehicles are planned to be used in the city center, until 2020 about 40,000 and until 2040 more than 200,000. The realisation of this ambigious plans starts in 2011 on large scale. The city has established a number of cooperation with electro vehicles manufactures, i.e. Renault-Nissan (in 2011 has started the selling of the electro “Leaf” model).
Regional Supply Infrastructure
In the years 2011 – 2012 the erection of some 10,000th recharging stations for electro vehicles are planned.
Regional Support Instruments
Amsterdam introduced a low emissions zone on the 9th October 2008. The LEZs currently apply to heavy-duty diesel-engined lorries over 3.5 tonnes Gross Vehicle Weight. Until 1st July 2013 the vehicle standard for entering in the zone is Euro 3 with retrofit particulate trap and if not older than 8 years and Euro 4 and above allowed as well as after 1st July 2013 Euro 4 and above.
There are several incentive instruments for the purchase of electro vehicles, i.e. at maximum the purchase is funded by 50% of the price (max. amount 15,000 EUR for cars, 25,000 for light duty vehicles, 45,000 for duty vehicles and taxis and 250,000 EUR for the purchase of a fleet of 20 electro cars). Furthermore, the power provided by recharging stations which are publically accessible is free of charge.
Regional Information Sources
Apeldoorn
Status Quo
Apeldoorn is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland, about 60 miles south east of Amsterdam, in the centre of the Netherlands. It is a regional centre and has about 136,000 inhabitants (January 2008). The municipality of Apeldoorn, including villages like Beekbergen, Loenen and Hoenderloo, has over 155,000 inhabitants.
Since July 2009 electric city buses, called the Whisper, are driving in the city of Apeldoorn. It's a trial with 5 buses which have an electric motor directly connected to the wheels. The municipality of Apeldoorn is thinking about creating emission free zones in the innercity. The Whisper bus would be a perfect solution for this because it can run without emissions nor noise. The company E-traction uses this two year trial with 5 citybuses in Apeldoorn to monitor and evaluate the work of their wheel engines in practice. Because of the direct connection of the engine to the wheel no gear wheels are needed and almost no energy is lost. The efficiency of the engines is about 95%. The project is funded by the national government.
Regional Information Sources
Breda
Status Quo
Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. Breda's urban area is home to an estimated 316,000 people (2008).
In spring 2007 three Volkwagen Transporter vans and one MAN waste collection truck of the municipality of Breda, have been used to test the use of biodiesel in practice. The biodiesel is produced by a local company from waste products (for example residual fat from a local slaughterhouse). The initiative was organised by the municipality and received support from the provincial government via a subsidy of 10,000 euros. The main target was to test the biodiesel in practice in the daily work of the municipality vehicles. The biodiesel consisted of a blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% fossil diesel. This percentage does not require any techical adaptation of the vehicles. A second aim of the project was to encourage the local biodiesel production.
Regional Information Sources
Eindhoven
Status Quo
Eindhoven is a municipality and a city located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. The metropolitan area (which includes Helmond) has nearly 750,000 inhabitants. Also, Eindhoven is part of Brabant Stad, a combined metropolitan area with more than 2 million inhabitants.
Between 2005 and 2007 the bus company BBA performed a trial project with two local buses running on Pure Plant Oil (PPO). The buses were fitted with two fuel tanks (PPO and diesel). The buses were used on all BBA routes in the Eindhoven region. BBA had installed a special fuel tank for this project at the bus depot in Reusel. The pilot was also started to discover what effect the long-term use of PPO has on the lifespan of the bus engines. In the Netherlands there was a tax exemption on PPO for a limited number of projects. BBA was one of these projects. Therefore the price of the PPO for BBA at that moment was about 0,75 euro per litre (price of PPO at the first public PPO filling point is 1,00 euro price of conventional diesel is about 1,05 euro per litre). The costs for converting the conventional diesel buses to PPO were about 6.000 EUR per bus. Oil and filter change intervals (every 20.000 kilometres) are shorter then conventional diesel (every 60.000 kilometres). An overall evaluation was made in 2007. Due to the high maintenance costs and the large amounts of soot emitted, the company decided to end the trial and rebuild the busses back to convential fuel busses.
Regional Information Sources
Groningen
Status Quo
Groningen is the capital city and municipality of the province of Groningen in the Netherlands. With a population of around 188,000, it is by far the largest city in the north of the Netherlands. Groningen wants the most sustainable city in the Netherlands and energy-neutral by 2025. In medium terms the provinces Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe aiming 100,000 vehicles driving renewable transportation fuels such as green gas and electricity in 2015. This not only cars but also trucks, buses, scooters and boats. This is 100,000 vehicles in the plan. In September 2008 a new bus fleet based on biogas has started its operation in public transport.
Fuelling Infrastructure
Groningen already has three gas stations. In November 2010 a new fourth green gas station was opened.
Regional Information Sources
Nijmegen
Status Quo
Nijmegen is a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, near the German border. The municipality is part of the "Stadsregio Arnhem-Nijmegen", a metropolitan area with 728,500 inhabitants.
To improve its air quality, the municipality of Nijmegen has worked toward the introduction of a substantial fleet of CNG-vehicles within its boundaries. In this approach it has set its goals towards both the introduction of CNG busses in public transport as the introduction of a substantial fleet of CNG light duty vehicles. From January 2010 on, all 75 public transport buses in Nijmegen are CNG buses. Nijmegen initially aimed for the introduction of an equivalent of 200 CNG personal vehicles and 1 CNG filling station during the EU funded project PROCURA, to be followed by a growth scenario. Moreover, it was perceived that the creation of a supporting infrastructure (maintenance, car dealers) and marketing approach towards the addition of a larger volume of CNG vehicles was required to achieve a successful introduction of CNG vehicles in Nijmegen. The province of Gelderland developed the website www.fuelswitch.nl to inform fleet owners about the possibilities of alternative fuelled vehicles and the upcoming meetings and activities in Nijmegen
During the PROCURA project, a substantial number of fleet owners in Nijmegen decided to introduce one or more CNG vehicles in their fleet, i.e. Municipality of Beuningen; DAR (local waste collection company); Klarenbeek (logistics company); Hegeman (local car dealer); DBS group (logistics company); GAFU (local company); Nijol (CNG filling station); Several private consumers. In total, over 40 CNG vehicles were procured in the region of Nijmegen during PROCURA.
Fuelling Infrastructure
In 2006, the municipality of Nijmegen started discussions with possible partners who showed an interest in developing a public CNG filling station in Nijmegen. This resulted in serious propositions of three market parties, in the end leading to an agreement with Nijol BV, a local oil company, to realize a public CNG refuelling facility at their public filling station at Bijsterhuizen in Nijmegen. The province of Gelderland has subsidized this filling station in Nijmegen with a 100,000 EUR grant. The CNG filling station was officially opened in November 2007.
Starting in April 2008, it is also possible to refuel bioethanol (E85) vehicles in Nijmegen.
Regional/Local Procurement Initiatives
When the municipality of Nijmegen started with PROCURA, a public tender was planned for public transportation in the city region Arnhem Nijmegen by 2007. This public tender would have made a good instrument to demand high environmental standards for the public transport buses from 2007 on. The tender was however delayed until 2010.
Regional Information Sources
Rotterdam
Status Quo
Rotterdam is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland, situated in the west of the Netherlands. The municipality is the second largest in the country, with a population of about 603,000 as of March 2010. Rotterdam played an important role within the EU funded CIVITAS TELLUS programme.
A new system of clean public transportation was tested in Rotterdam trying to use developed filters. Before the TELLUS, 38 new buses were already ordered with CRT filters in order to evaluate the viability of such PM 10 reducing filters in daily public transport use. Within TELLUS, 7 buses have been fitted with a complete DNOx filter system. Unfortunately the test results were very disappointing: all 7 DNOx filters have broken down in the first testing period. The main cause of the breakdowns is that the system is not working correctly with the exhaust gas temperatures from the applicable buses in the RET fleet. Solving these problems is almost impossible. This led to the decision not to fit such a system on the rest of the bus fleet. The experiences with the 38 CRT filtered buses were better; the maintenance period is now extended from 90.000 to 180.000 km. Outside TELLUS, Rotterdam has introduced 60 low noise, energy saving trams and 18 low noise metros
Three transport companies are responsible for the distribution of 70% of all parcels & packages in Rotterdam. Small trucks and vans are used for the distribution of goods in and out of the city. Seven electric vehicles for urban distribution were introduced for deliveries of parcels & packages. The vehicles had to prove themselves in the existing logistic systems of the three participating companies. A vehicle serves up to a hundred addresses a day in one single trip, which demands a payload of 1000 - 1500 kg. Before TELLUS, the small-scale demonstration in the local site ELCIDIS project in Rotterdam could only be performed till August 2002. The extension of the demonstration period enabled a better understanding of using this new technology. It was decided that the only suitable vehicle to fulfil the needs was the Mercedes-Benz 308 E Sprint, with ZEBRA batteries. The range of the vehicles was 50 km with two battery packs and 75 km with three battery packs.
Regional Support Instruments
Rotterdam City features a cost-free so-called “fleet scan”. This looks at how private company vehicles environmentally friendly and which can make cleaner alternatives when replacing vehicles.
Rotterdam has had a low emissions zone in place since the 16th September 2007. The LEZ covers the city centre of Rotterdam, including ‘Centraal Station’, Centraal Station-kwartier, ‘Stadsdriehoek’, ‘Oude Westen’ en ‘Cool’ district. Until 1st July 2013 the vehicle standard for entering in the zone is Euro 3 with retrofit particulate trap and if not older than 8 years and Euro 4 and above allowed as well as after 1st July 2013 Euro 4 and above.
Regional Information Sources
www.schonevoertuigenadviseur.nl
www.schonevoertuigenadviseur.nl
South Holland
Status Quo
South Holland is a province situated on the North Sea in the western part of the Netherlands. The provincial capital is The Hague and its largest city is Rotterdam. The province is the most populated of the 12 provinces.
The Dutch bus company Connexxion has been testing a hydrogen bus in the province of South Holland for 2 months in 2008. The bus was carrying passengers between several towns during this period following the normal bus schedule. The test has been successful but bottlenecks still exist to enlarge the initiative. The aim of this project was to test hydrogen as a fuel for buses in daily transport and traffic. The bus was introduced together with a campaign “driving on the taste of water” in which passengers were informed about the technology used in the hydrogen bus via leaflets. The Van Hool bus was equipped with a hydrogen tank on the roof, batteries and hybrid technology to re-use the energy received from braking. Both technologies worked successfully during the project.
Fuelling Infrastructure
To fuel the bus, a hydrogen fuelling station was built. Some difficulties occurred in the legislation and safety procedures regarding this fuelling station because it did not fit the existing frameworks.
Regional Information Sources
