A report from the UK’s Transport Select Committee recently published in Britain has claimed that sales of electric vehicles (EV’s) are on forecast for growth but remain relatively small despite the introduction of a Government plug-in grant.

Incentives offered by the government include financial subsidies for consumers as well as funding for publicly available vehicle charging infrastructure.  Plugged-In Places was launched as a series of trial projects to install these charge points at selected locations across the UK, with the aim of alleviating ‘recharging anxiety’ for EV owners and stimulating demand.

However, according to an interview published on FleetDirectory.co.uk, Dr Nigel Berkeley from Coventry University believes that consumer demand is ‘lagging way behind’ and that the subsidy is ‘pointless’ because the price of the vehicles is still too high. He claims that grants are doing little more than subsidising second cars for affluent households.

The UK Government has so far spent around £11m on making EVs more enticing with the introduction of £5k grants for plug-in cars (£8k for plug-in vans), whilst the Plugged-In Places scheme has delivered 1,600 charging posts across the country. To date, around 1,700 electric car buyers have been eligible for the £5k grant, amounting to around £8.5m.

View the Transport Committee report, ‘Plug-in vehicles, plugged in policy?’ here.

The first electric charging station was opened in Brisbane last week, in a joint venture between Brisbane City Council, energy retailer ERM Power, and GE Australia. The station sits in a CBD car park underneath King George Square, and has two bowsers, each 100 per cent powered by renewable energy.

According to News Media, whilst the council says that it will wait to see how the uptake of the service performs before setting up more stations, GE Australia claims to have plans to install stations underneath apartment blocks, office buildings and at car rental bases around Queensland.

The 12 month trial project’s aim, as reported by CitySmart, is to capture information on electric vehicle driving and charging behaviours including how often and when the charging stations are used and the influence of availability of chargers on driver behaviour.  

Brisbane Council says that the charging is free and half-price parking is available for drivers of electric cars. According to The Brisbane Times, they number only 48 of the almost 2.5 million cars registered with the Department of Transport and Main Roads.

A GE Australia representative said that the introduction of the pilot scheme was more about taking the first step in “an inevitable industry transition”, and would help facilitate a “mass adoption of EVs [electric vehicles]”. Other major Australian capital cities have already installed charging stations, in part motivated by predictions from the Australian Energy Market that one in five vehicles would be electric by 2020, and up to 54 per cent by 2030.

Reporting on-location, our London correspondent recently filed a report on the electric pods at Heathrow airport, shuttling passengers from the business car park to Terminal 5 (see also our previous stories on the pods, Pods from the car park at Heathrow Airport, and Heathrow airport pods are now in motion).

Some of the key features of the system include:

• Noiseless
• Attractive
• No emissions (pods are re-charged when waiting in the berths)
• Easy to install as the narrow track can snake around obstacles; no need to change existing infrastructure
• Revenues can be generated from sponsorship and advertising on inside-pod screens. Exterior advertising makes the pod a moving billboard
• Importantly, it delivers ON DEMAND transport – a product built to cater for the fact that people don’t like to wait

The first-hand experience of the pods was quite exhilarating. According to our correspondent “it makes you feel like you’ve stepped into 2001 Space Odyssey”. Some more eyewitness photos snapped below. 

A report released by Pike Research into the deployment of Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure across Europe has forecasted that by 2020 there will be more than 2.9 million plug-in electric vehicles on Europe’s roadways, and the region will have more than 4.1 million electric vehicle charging stations installed.

The EV charging infrastructure that enables vehicles to charge at home, at the workplace, and in public spaces is simultaneously being rolled out utilising a variety of deployment models and several different technology configurations.

According to a press release on the Pike Report, the top five European markets for EV supply equipment will be Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy, representing more than 60% of the total market. The dynamics of demand for EVSE will be different in Europe than in other parts of the world; for example, residential charging equipment adoption will be slower than in North America as more EV owners will opt to use base power from a wall outlet or will rely primarily on commercial charging stations.

More information on the report, as well as options to view the full report, can be found online on Pike Research’s website here.

Ford has announced that it is developing “Traffic Jam Assist”, an intelligent driving feature that employs technology from the already-available active Park Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane-Keeping Aid and the PowerShift transmission to enable a vehicle to automatically keep pace with other vehicles on the road, using radar and on-board camera technology.

It also provides automated steering control to stay in the current lane, maintaining lane position in environments where there are no pedestrians, cyclists or animals, and where lanes are clearly marked.

The developing technology would be able to respond to changing traffic situations ahead and communicate any developments to the driver. Traffic Jam Assist would also incorporate features to help ensure the driver remains alert and in contact with the vehicle controls, even when the system is active.

Ford is currently evolving the Park Assist system – technology that enables parallel parking without touching the steering wheel – to offer hands-free perpendicular parking as well.

A car sharing group in the UK will be the first in the country to exclusively use electric vehicles. The scheme, run by Sustainable Venture Development, will be piloted in north Oxfordshire.

According to BBC.co.uk, the cars will have dedicated bays on the street, beside which there will be specific fast-charging infrastructure installed, ensuring that the cars are kept charged. Users will be required to return the vehicles and plug them in on the conclusion of their short-term lease.

Colliers International, in conjunction with Parking & Traffic Consultants, have released a white paper into CBD car parks in Australia.

The paper, entitled Australian CBD Car Parking – The Next Decade, examines the current trends and the expected future of car parks in Australia. With the number of car spaces in Australian CBDs increasing only marginally from 141,690 in 2006 to 153,400 in 2011, car parking is a finite product, with the supply of car parking expected to moderate over the next decade.

A key finding of the report was that the ratio of car parking to CBD workers is declining, along with the importance of parking relative to other forms of transport. Since 2005, proximity to public transport has remained the most important driver in attracting and retaining staff by tenants when choosing an office location and has steadily increased in importance over time.

Real estate and property yields for well-established commercial car parks are generally slightly above commercial buildings in the same price range in comparable locations, with a slight risk premium factored in to allow for increased uncertainty surrounding changes to Government legislation, casual parking as a discretionary spend which generally diminished in times of economic uncertainty, and a smaller market for car parking assets.

Parking & Traffic Consultants' own Managing Partner, Cristina Lynn, was a co-author to the report. Cristina said that with changes to technology and the cost of car parking on the rise, owners had to become more innovative in the services they provide. The benefits of new technology coupled with greater awareness of customer’s needs should ensure on going profitability and value maximisation for car park owners.

Click here to view the full white paper.

A US-based company has developed a concept prototype for a ‘solar roadway’ – a series of structurally engineered solar panels that can be driven on.

The concept sees roads literally replaced by the solar panels, which when linked together effectively serve as an energy grid itself. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway provides, with the aim of becoming an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized, secure power grid.

An electric road allows electric vehicles to recharge anywhere: rest stops, parking lots, businesses and homes. Furthermore, it will reduce a significant usage of asphalt – a product made from petroleum itself, further reducing dependency on oil.

As you can see in the video below, the biggest challenge that the solar roadway faces is driving on glass – however from our interpretation of the video it seems the challenge will be more shifting our attitudes towards driving on glass than the supporting science behind it.

Due to be demolished to make way for the redevelopment of Darling Harbour, Sydney’s monorail has seen significant debate over what should happen to the structure once dismantled.

Landscape architect David Vago has drawn up a plan to take inspiration from New York’s famous High Line (see our blog post about the High Line here!), and turn the tracks into an elevated boardwalk and cycleway. His proposal would involve a three to five-metre-wide deck across the track, creating a 3.6-kilometre public walkway through the central business district.

The High-Lane, as he calls it, could be used by joggers, cyclists, office workers, parents with prams and tourists. The existing pylons would become vertical gardens and Monorail stations would be transformed into pocket parks, cafes and gallery spaces, taking around 12 to 18 months to build.

All the government entities remain non-committal regarding the project, with some scepticism and concerns given the proposed demolition to make way for the Darling Harbour redevelopment.