Project impacts

In addition, CarE-Service will have impacts on Society and the Environment:

Resource efficient transport system

The European Commission recently adopted a roadmap, “Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system”, of 40 concrete initiatives for the next decade to build a competitive transport system that will increase mobility, remove major barriers in key areas and fuel growth and employment. The ambitious targets settled may not be concretely reached without a stable transition towards new consumption patterns in e-mobility sector that can boost the reduction of TCO for E&HEVs. CarE-Service will contribute by creating sustainable local eco-systems targeted to the maximization of E&HEVs use.

Nox, PM2.5 and Co2 emissions

In addition to greenhouse emission, other emissions of traditional vehicles are particularly dangerous in cities. In many metropolitan areas, concerns over air quality have grown, in particular, the health impacts of particulate and NOX emissions, especially pollutants such as PM2.5. The diffusion of E&HEVs could reduce CO2 emissions by as much as 60 percent in 2030 in specific urban areas. By promoting the penetration of e-mobility and concretely contributing to substitute about 32,000 ICEVs with EVs by 2025 in urban areas, CarE-Service will contribute to target the near-zero emission goal.

Charging infrastructure

Having the right charging infrastructure available could have a reinforcing effect on the uptake of EVs, and vice versa. The locations and types of charging infrastructure would clearly be different for private EVs versus CarE-Service car-sharing services. The latter would offer the possibility to concentrate charging stations in specific density areas of the service, thus leading to higher utilization of the infrastructure, favouring fast-charging methods. This would enable, lower investment risk, higher service level, and lower costs of installation with respect to the current distributed system.

Social impacts on workers

CarE-Service will monitor the impact of the developed solutions on day-by-day work of operators at industrial level, developing training courses for industrial users on the CarE-Service solutions and workshops. These specific training courses will increase the acceptance of the developed SMMs by workers and improve their ability to correctly operate the process, also being aware of the safety measures and guidelines. In addition, the product re-design guidelines developed in CarE-Service will contribute to increase the skills of the European manufacturing workforce and to ultimately boost the creation of new knowledge-intensive jobs in circular economy Europe.

Health and safety

The handling of Li-Ion batteries is extremely dangerous if the product is treated improperly, due to the risk of combustion. Safety is therefore a severe challenge while handling Li-Ion batteries that is particularly critical for post-use products. CarE-Service will develop specific procedures and safety guidelines to process EV Li-Ion batteries aiming at reducing the risk and the magnitude of potential accidents that could harm lives and environment. Moreover, CarE-Service will strongly contribute to the citizens’ healthy reducing plastics materials being disposed to landfills by recycling high performance plastics that could be profitably re-used in a circular economy.

Climate change and renewable energy

E-mobility can benefit from the renewable energy sector by decreasing the GHG emission linked to the battery charging process. Compared to combustion engine vehicles, GHG emissions could decrease by 80% if electric vehicles use renewable electricity. Inversely, renewable energies can become more attractive because of low-cost stationary storage systems by second life Li-Ion batteries. This could accelerate EVs uptake by lowering power prices and resolving specific grid issues that currently inhibit electric vehicles. CarE-Service will contribute to these double-sided effects by increasing the use of e-mobility solutions and providing efficient and safe technologies for re-use batteries.

Urban traffic and congestion

The urban traffic and congestion is a big matter for daily quality life and it is estimated to costs more than 1 percent of GDP globally. In addition, it is foreseen that by 2030, 60% the world’s population. As a consequence, in developing dense metropolitan demand for mobility may nearly double, reducing at the same time the attractiveness of private car ownership. CarE-Service will demonstrate concrete solutions to support this transition, by maximizing the utilization of shared e-vehicles during their life-cycle, reducing simultaneous use of multiple vehicles, and by designing integrated transport solutions grounding on e-mobility in urban areas.