Finland plans ambitious electric vehicle tests
lehtikuva / Antti Aimo-Koivisto Plans for electric cars are charging aheadFinland has launched a major testing project for electric vehicles and charging equipment with the aim of creating a unified testing environment for more than 400 vehicles and 850 charging points over the next four years.
The project will create a charging network to enable the normal use of electric cars across five cities in the Greater Helsinki Region by the year 2015.
The project includes more than 50 participating companies, cities and universities and has a total budget of 100 million euros of which Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is contributing 30 million.
Tekes’ EVE programme is aimed at companies and research institutes that work with electric vehicles and machinery and the components and systems used in them.
The long-term goal is to increase the amount of business related to electric vehicles and machinery from the 2010 figure of 200 million euros to approximately two billion euros by 2020.
The vehicle stock involved the project will consist of leasing vehicles used by companies and local authorities.
Finland’s Ministry of Employment and the Economy has given energy support grants of 4.8 million euros to Eera and 4.6 million euros to Synocus for testing projects on electric vehicles and charging systems which are part of the Tekes EVE programme. The central aim of both projects is to gain user experiences from the use of electric vehicles.
Eera’s project will focus on infrastructure and traffic system solutions, electronic and user services, as well as business models. The project will include 180 cars, 50 vans, 10 service and transport vehicles and about 400 chargers.
Synocus Oy’s Eco Urban Living project will focus on manufacturing technology and the development of the sub-contracting network around it. Valmet Automotive is the major actor in the development of vehicle technology and Fortum in the development of charging technology.
The project will include about 280 cars, 8 buses and 11 other vehicles, and its main clients include the Finnish companies Itella, Fortum and Huoneisto-markkinointi. In terms of charging equipment, the project will also include about 430 slow and medium chargers, ten quick chargers, and two chargers for buses.
VL
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