2012-05-04 elmos study trip offenbach report · hotel graf in offenbach tuesday, 24 april 2012:...

Part-financed by the European Union (ERDF)

ELMOS Study trip Offenbach, Frankfurt & Stuttgart / Germany

23-25 April 2012

Report ELMOS

Study Trip to Offenbach, Frankfurt & Stuttgart

23-25 April 2012

Agenda:

Monday, 23 April 2012: Arrival of participants

Time Topic Responsible / host / guide

Individual travelling to Offenbach Participants

20:00 Informal get-together at the bar of Hotel Graf in Offenbach

Tuesday, 24 April 2012: Offenbach / Frankfurt


08:15 Check out from Hotel Graf, Offenbach

Storing of luggage at the hotel reception

Participants

Gathering and introduction

08:30 Introductory session (at Hotel Graf, conference room)

• Welcome and introduction of participants

• Short overview on the programme of the study trip & organisational issues

• Exchange on expectations

• Welcome by Anja Georgi, CEO of Nahverkehr in Offenbach GmbH (NiO GmbH - host of first stop over)

Lead Beneficiary / PLANCO

09:05 Joint foot walk to Offenbach Marktplatz

Electric mobility in Offenbach

ELMOS c/o Rostocker Straßenbahn AG

Hamburger Str. 115 18069 Rostock

Germany

Contact: Janette Heidenreich Phone: +49 381 802 17 25

E-mail: [email protected]

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09:10 On-site visits of electric mobility facilities in Offenbach city centre

• “eMobil” service and rental station for pedelecs and e-cars at Offenbach Marktplatz, incl. test rides of rental pedelecs and rental eCars

http://www.emobil-rheinmain.de/EmobilEmobilservicestationBilder.html

• Mobility centre at Offenbach Marktplatz

http://www.offenbach.de/offenbach/themen/rathaus/aemter-und-gesellschaften/mobilitaetszentrale/amt/rmv-mobilitaetszentrale.html

Anja Georgi, CEO of Nahverkehr in Offenbach GmbH, Head of the regional coordination office of the e-mobility model region Rhine-Main

10:50 Joint foot walk (public bus trip) to venues of NiO GmbH, Hebestraße 14, Offenbach

11:00 Presentation of the e-mobility model region Rhine-Main and its pilot actions

• Activities and experiences in the model region Rhine-Main, including the integrated mobility offer “Linie 103” in Offenbach (combining electric bus, e-car sharing and pedelec rental)

http://www.bmvbs.de/SharedDocs/EN/Artikel/UI/electric-mobility-pilot-regions.html?nn=37302 www.emobil-rheinmain.de

• Overview on the pilot project “Bike + Business 2.0”

Questions & answers to methodologies and results of related qualitative and quantitative costumer surveys

http://www.bikeandbusiness.de/download/Bike_Business_2-0_Broschuere.pdf

• “Preventive maintenance diagnosis on the fly” – A web-based maintenance and mobility management system for pedelecs

http://www.all4ip.de/it-loesungen/it-fur-elektromobilitaet-1/fern-wartungsdiagnose-fur-elektrofarzeuge

Questions & answers, discussion

Anja Georgi, CEO of Nahverkehr in Offenbach GmbH, Head of the regional coordination office/ e-mobility model region Rhine-Main

Joachim Hochstein, Officer for bicycle traffic, Regional Authority FrankfurtRheinMain

Klaus Höhne, Fraunhofer LBF Institute for structural durability and system reliability

12:45 Joint lunch in the cantine of NiO (self-paying)

13:30 Reclaim of luggage at the Hotel Graf

13:45 Joint transfer to Frankfurt (by local train)

Storing of luggage at Frankfurt Main Station

Joint transfer to venues of AGBnova, Ginnheimer Str. 48, Frankfurt (by local train)

Electric mobility in Frankfurt

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15:00 E-mobility offers of ABGnova in Frankfurt

• On-site visits of the pedelec rental station Sophienhof, type “Bike-In”

http://www.abgnova.de/aktionen/e-mobilitaet/Pedelec-Stationen.php

www.leaserad.de/fahrradflotten/verleihsystem-bike-in

• Presentation of “Frankfurter Modell” of electric charging stations

http://www.abgnova.de/pdf/2011-02-11_Frankfurter-Modell.pdf

Bernd Utesch, CEO of ABGnova GmbH

Joint transfer back to Frankfurt Main Station

On-site visit of an electric charging station of ABGnova at Frankfurt Main Station

18:30 Reclaim of luggage at Frankfurt Main Station

Joint transfer to Stuttgart (by train)

20:30 Arrival in Stuttgart, joint dinner (self-paying)

Day 2, Wednesday, 25 April 2012: Stuttgart

Time Topic Responsible / guide

08:30 Check out from Hotel Rieker Novum

Storing of luggage at the hotel reception

Participants

08:45 Gathering at lobby of Hotel Rieker Novum

Joint foot walk to Centre for electric mobility, Heilbronner Straße/ Türlen Straße , Stuttgart

Electric mobility in Stuttgart

09:00 Presentation of electric mobility activities in the model city Stuttgart

• Visit of the electric mobility exhibition in the Centre for electric mobility

http://www.stuttgart.de/zentrum-emobilitaet • Vision, concept and process of

establishing electric mobility in Stuttgart from the city administration`s perspective – questions & answers

http://newsroom.stuttgart.de/aktuelles/detail/4dd1165c732144070d000002/stuttgart-stadt-der-e-mobilitaet

Günter Stürmer, Officer for electric mobility, City of Stuttgart

10:15 On-site visits of the pedelec rental facilities of “eCall-a-Bike” in Stuttgart city centre

http://www.callabike-interaktiv.de/index.php?id=398&f=500

Karl-Heinz Erdt, DB Rent

Reflections and farewell

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Time Topic Responsible / guide

12:15 Joint foot walk back to Hotel Rieker Novum

Reclaim of luggage

Joint foot walk to Stuttgart Main Station

Joint transfer to Frankfurt airport (by train), meanwhile

• Review of the trip and reflections on lessons learnt

PLANCO / participants

14:15 Arrival at Frankfurt airport

End of study trip

Individual travelling back home Participants

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List of Participants

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1. Introductory session

As introduction to the study trip, Jens Masuch (PLANCO Consulting GmbH) welcomes the participants and presents the programme and technical details (interpreter, transfers etc.). In a short introduction round the participants talked about their background, special interests during the study trip and the agenda points they look most forward to. The expectations varied from a general interest in e-mobility and seeing e-mobility in practice to concrete agenda points, details in renting and charging systems or marketing activities in place.

Please find the presentation of the introductory session attached.

2. On-site visit of electro mobility facilities in Offenbach (rental station/ mobility centre)

Anja Georgi (CEO of Nahverkehr in Offenbach GmbH and Head of the regional coordination office / e-mobility model region Rhine-Main) presents the electric mobility facilities: a rental station and the mobility centre in the inner city of Offenbach. The project partners had the chance to experience pedelecs and e-cars themselves.

Rental Station

Main relations to the ELMOS project, interesting features:

• The rental station in Offenbach and the electric vehicles (15 pedelecs in boxes and 2 electric cars) were built and set in place in the context of a government funded e-mobility project in May 2011. Within this project Offenbach was one of several cities in the model region Rhine-Main where e-mobility activities

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were started for one year (see also chapter 3). The project partners “Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund” (regional transport association), “Offenbacher Verkerhs-Betriebe” (city owned public transport company), “Nahverkehr in Offenbac”" (responsible for organisation and promotion of public transport) and “Stadtmobil” (car sharing company) have decided to continue the project for at least one more year.

• The location of the rental station (the only one in Offenbach) was chosen because of its centrality and visibility. Also it is near by the bus and subway station (intermodality) and the mobility information centre. The area on the market place is owned by the City of Offenbach and can be used as long as there are no other investment plans. The renting station itself including 15 boxes for the pedelecs and a roofed charging station for the e-cars, was designed by an architect (Klotz + Knecht Architektur- und Ingenieurbüro GbR, Darmstadt) and is easily removable, if necessary.

• The project partner “Stadtmobil” (car sharing company) is responsible for the technical installation of the renting system and the maintenance of the vehicles, i.e. both the e-cars and the pedelecs.

• Details on renting and the rental system:

o Membership necessary, official registration via internet or at the mobility centre to receive the member chip card (10 € deposit).

o Costs are charged for the time a pedelec (1,50 € per hour) or e-car (3 € per hour) is used and are directly booked from bank account. Discounts for whole day and monthly usage or RMV-clients exist.

o The e-cars have to be booked in advance (internet, mobile phone portal or telephone), pedelecs can be rented spontaneously.

o To rent a vehicle a key for the pedelec box or the e-car is necessary and can be received after registration with chip card and PIN number at the terminal.

o Fully charged pedelecs are preferred given out by the system, empty ones are blocked. Before this system was introduced, mainly the pedelec in box no. 1 was rented.

o The used plug is an ordinary “Schuko”-plug. The electric cable is integrated in the pedelec like in a vacuum cleaner. The user receives a 1 € credit when plugging in the pedelec at return.

o The whole infrastructure did cost 45.000 €, each of the pedelecs was 1.500 €.

Please find facts and figures of the e-mobility station in Offenbach attached (in German).

Mobility centre

The Offenbach mobility centre has several functions:

• Place to buy public transport tickets

o Also to sign in for the e-mobility member chip-card. As the rental station is near by a staff-member of the mobility centre can give personal instructions.

• Mobility information centre (face-to-face, brochures, exhibitions etc.)

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• Tourist information

• Ticket shop for events

The concept of combining advice and information is seen very positive and proved to be successful.

3. Presentation of the e-mobility model region Rhine-Main

Anja Georgi (CEO of Nahverkehr in Offenbach GmbH and Head of the regional coordination office/ e-mobility model region Rhine-Main) presents activities and experiences in the model region Rhine-Main, including the integrated mobility offer “Linie 103” in Offenbach. Please find the presentation and some facts and figures on e-mobility in Offenbach attached (in German).


• The Rhine-Main region was one of 8 e-mobility model regions in Germany. From 2009-2011 the focus was on research and studies related to e-mobility. Until 2015 the focus will be in a second step more on promotion and value-orientation. 4 German regions have qualified for this second round, Rhine-Main is not among them. The aim for whole Germany is to bring 1 million e-cars on the road until 2020.

• The Rhine-Main region will continue to work on e-mobility in a smaller scale, use and develop the existing networks (alliance for e-mobility). The main focus will be on promotion, getting more acceptance for e-mobility and the user perspective. The aim is to install a promoting platform for the region and (form May 2012 on) a mobility card to combine the regional e-mobility offers. Future projects are for example to provide e-mobility solutions for the art exhibition “documenta 13” in Kassel (summer 2012).

• Ways to promote commercial e-transport were tested: hybrid-garbage trucks, e-busses and e-vehicles for the UPS-Germany. Further ideas to promote e-car usage are for example the permission to use bus-lanes, free parking or delivery permission in inner-cities outside the usual delivery times.

• Ms Georgi introduces the “Bus Line 103”: an e-bus was integrated into the regular bus schedule in summer 2011. The bus line was realized with a former air-port passenger bus and had a very good feedback from the users (quiet and comfortable).The bus had a stop at the Marktplatz in Offenbach and linked the e-bus with the e-cars and pedelec rental system there. As the bus had no heating system it could not be tested in winter. That might be

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done next winter in order to test the effects of the heating system on the batteries.

Mr Joachim Hochstein, officer for bicycle traffic, Regional Authority FrankfurtRheinMain gave an overview on the pilot project “Bike & Business 2.0” that was part of the activities in the Rhine-Main region. Please find the presentation of Mr Hochstein and a description of accompanying social scientific research on Bike & Business 2.0 attached (in German).


• Bike & Business 2.0 and the integration of pedelecs is one of several projects that promote cycling in the Rhine-Main area. 20 companies with all together 50.000 employees participated.

• In general the modal split for cycling in Germany and the Rhine-Main area increased from 8% in 2002 to 15% in 2008. There is a big potential in pedelecs, especially for suburban commuters who travel 5-15 km to work. Another focus and potential is seen in the business related ways / outside assignments within 10 km, e.g. the employees of a commune.

• General questions in the project were, if there is a potential for pedelec usage for commuters and companies and what technical and infrastructural requirements are necessary. To answer these questions scientists, promotion experts, pedelec producer, private user and companies worked together.

• Bike & Business 2.0 tested 4 different pedelec models (151 in total) with commuters, who used it in private and for company related transportation. The pedelecs were produced by “riese und müller” and cost 3700 € each. The commuters got special rates but had to buy the pedelecs after project end.

• Workshops, questionnaires and a mobility diary were used to receive data, also direct feedback sessions from user to producer.

• In general the users saw a big potential in pedelec usage. Positive points were the fun-factor, the sustainable image, the cost effectiveness compared to cars and that a pedelec can be used as ordinary bike even with an empty battery. Positively seen were also the newly founded networks and the positive feedback in the media.

• Needs for improvements were seen in the battery technology, generally in maintenance and the in-company organisation of mobility.

• As the pedelec users were mainly male, from 30 to 40 years old and cycling affine the results of the scientific output are not representative.

• The pedelec users charged their batteries at home over night or at the company. There was no usage and only few wishes for a public loading infrastructure.

• As future (Bike & Business 3.0) project, task for the regional planning and in order to make pedelecs more competitive, Mr Hochstein presented first ideas of high-speed bicycle tracks that would fit to the higher average speed of a pedelec and furthermore support cycling in general. Examples for these high-speed bicycle tracks exist e.g. in the Netherlands.

Mr Klaus Höhne, Fraunhofer LBF Institute for structural durability and system reliability presents the “preventive maintenance diagnosis on the fly” – a web-based maintenance and mobility management system for pedelecs that was part

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of the activities in the Rhine-Main region. Please find the presentation attached (in German).


• The Fraunhofer Institutes focusses on interdisciplinary research in all fields with relevance for e-mobility. From energy production, to charging technologies, batteries, maintenance and user concepts.

• The preventive maintenance diagnosis on the fly has the vision that every pedelec sends data about e.g. position, material stress, battery charging and tire pressure to a central server. That would make the maintenance of a public rental system much more efficient. These functions were tested by a demonstrator pedelec.

• The results of the material stress tests showed that a pedelec frame and material, due to its higher speed and weight, is much more stressed than an ordinary bicycle. Especially the frame below the saddle and the handle bar is stressed.

• The embedded in the fly analysis is not on the market yet and is expected to be efficient and usable only for bigger pedelec fleets.

Most interesting points in the discussion that followed:

• As Rhine-Main represents Germany in little it was a good decision to visit the region. Diverse projects were realised, mostly related to infrastructure, vehicles, mobility chains and technical and social researches.

• Results and experiences Offenbach:

o The project expectations in Offenbach are fulfilled from the user acceptance stand point. 100 users were expected at project start (minimum for allowing for evaluations – as this was the focus and not an economic operation), 200 did sign in until now (no one signed out so far).

o Also the combination of pedelecs and e-cars worked out (60% of the users did choose a pedelec, 15% the e-car and 25% both/ In total the pedelecs were booked 350 times, the e-cars 52 times last year). It is very important to provide possibilities where the public is introduced to e-mobility and can make own experiences. Also communication is very important to promote intermodality and change the general mobility behaviour.

o The users of e-mobility in Offenbach are mostly natives and only few tourists, mainly young adults, students and enthusiasts. Commuters coming to Offenbach for a business trip also use the vehicles.

o Today there is no money to earn with e-mobility in Offenbach. The focus is on promotion and long term offering of e-mobility. The marketing activities involved brochures, posters, info days and a homepage and were and are very important for the acceptance of the e-mobility offers.

o The fear of vandalism was unnecessary. A kept clean and lighted rental station was enough to prevent damages.

o From May 2012 on public transport in the Rhine-Main region can be used with a mobility card.

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o The project had problems with the first e-cars (type “Think City”) and changed to the Mitsubishi i-MiEV.

o The boxes are not heated, so the batteries are affected by low temperatures. The rental system is supposed to stay open but was closed during last winter for maintenance reasons. These technical problems can only be solved with storing the pedelecs in a warm place.

o Patience is necessary to promote e-mobility in the long run. Public sector institutions have to support and be involved from beginning on, due to the relatively high costs of starting a rental system. In Offenbach e.g. also the area on the Marktplatz that is provided by the city.

• Pedelecs are still in the pioneer stage and further research and innovations are necessary. The components of a rental system exist and have to be put together. The interfaces are the biggest problems.

o Few systems and standardized products are on the market. E.g. DB rent and Leaserad or Movelo for touristic oriented rental systems.

o Whenever possible it is recommended to make use of external service providers, like e.g. car sharing company in Offenbach for maintenance.

• The city of Darmstadt (also Rhine-Main region) has plans to start a rental system with 300 pedelecs. It should go clearly beyond a pure demonstration run like in Offenbach and establish pedelecs as full-fledged mobility offer. The concept may therefore be very interesting for ELMOS.

• In future the user perspective has to be in the focus of interests.

4. E-mobility offers of ABGnova in Frankfurt

Mr Bernd Utesch, CEO of ABGnova GmbH presents the development of e-mobility in general (charging systems, plug-in systems etc.) with focus on the “Frankfurter Modell” of electric charging stations. Please find the presentation of Mr Utesch/ Mr Houness attached (in German).


• The ABGnova is a joint innovation subsidiary of the mainova company that provides services in the fields energy, housing and mobility and the local housing company ABG. The presentation was held in the “Sophienhof”, a complex of passive houses. As the ABGnova also runs the public parking ticketing system in Frankfurt, it introduced the “Frankfurter Modell” that

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combines parking meters with the possibility of e-car charging. In general Mr Utesch sees big potentials in e-mobilty.

• The general question is, if a public charging infrastructure is necessary at all, because 90% of the users charge their batteries at home or at their working place. Even though this private charging is slower it is better for the energy network because the ordinary system can be used. Also the energy at a public charging infrastructure will not be used if it is much more expensive than at home. The “Frankfurter Modell” is an open system and easy to integrate because the price for the energy can be included in the parking bill.

• In a city like Frankfurt public charging is also a matter of how to use the expensive public space. This background led to today 50 charging stations in place in Frankfurt that combine parking with charging. The main effect is seen in showing presence and making the public aware of e-mobility. Public charging is the exceptional case of charging an e-vehicle. Also a charging system has to be flexible, easily adjustable and expandable.

• Mr Utesch also talked about inductive charging as possibility for a wireless charging system.

Mr Houness from ABGnova showed the participants the pedelec rental system in the basement of the “Sophienhof” (type Bike-In).

• In general a pedelec renting system has to be cheap, robust and foolproof.

• This specific rental system can be used and is only accessible for tenants of the “Sophienhof” (100 apartments). It was introduced in autumn 2011 and is seen as replacement for private pedelecs of the tenants. Also the system has no economic ambitions and is seen as extra service. The frame of the pedelecs has potential as advertising space.

• The system is easy to understand but the pedelecs can only be charged at the station in the basement. The charging system at the front axle is the locking system at the same time; the battery is connected to the pedelec and cannot be removed.

• 5 pedelecs (1 parking lot for a car is enough space) are rentable, one pedelec (Geofoton/ BH-Bike) did cost 1700 €, the station 2000 € for each pedelec. Main target groups for this system are hotels, fairs or airports. The system can be expanded to up to 8 pedelecs. A wall-tower provides the energy. The usage is self-explaining and intuitive, the carrier is removable and functions as lock at the same time.

• The company LeaseRad arranged the maintenance (Bicycle shop nearby) and assurance (100 € per pedelec per year). The producer of the “Bike-In” system is a Spanish company. The system was leased via LeaseRad

• The prices for renting a pedelecs are 8 € a day, 15 € a week, 25 € a month or 50 € a year.

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5. On-site visit of an electric charging station in Frankfurt

The participants visit a mainova electric charging station, combination of parking and charging, nearby the Frankfurt main station.

6. Centre for Electric Mobility Stuttgart

Mr Günter Stürmer, Officer for electric mobility in the City of Stuttgart presents electric mobility related activities in the model city Stuttgart. Mr Stürmer gave an introduction into the exhibition in the centre for electric mobility.


• General overview and state of the art about e-mobility in Germany. The aim is to make e-mobility marketable.

o The city of Stuttgart sees a big potential in e-mobility and has an own interest, because 25% of all employees in the region work in the car industry. Furthermore e-mobility reduces traffic-, noise- and CO2-emissions.

• EnBW e-scooter project:

o 500 e-scooters (market price 4200 €) were tested for 1 year (60 km range, 6 hours charging time, 45 km max. speed). 60% of the

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participants bought the scooter afterwards; often it replaces the second car. The participants could apply online and 500 out of 3000 were selected. The batteries had technical problems at temperatures below -10°C. The city of Stuttgart provides 45 public charging stations for the e-scooters.

• Mr Stürmer showed different kinds of public charging infrastructure:

o E-cars are mainly bought as second car. The charging mainly takes place at home. The infrastructure is important (promotion and visibility) for the communes anyway. Wall-boxes are recommended for home charging, due to safety reasons.

o Park & charge station (like in Frankfurt) can be offered with an integrated information screen (e.g. for tourists). One central station can be connected with up to ten stations nearby. The aim in Stuttgart is to build 250 public charging stations until 2013, today 80 (45 for e-scooters) exist. The not yet existing plug-in standardization is a problem but will soon be served by political decisions.

• The E-Carsharing from the Deutsche Bahn – “Flinkster” also runs e-cars in Stuttgart.

• From 2012 on “Car 2 go” will be introduced in Stuttgart with e-cars (Smarts). The flexible car sharing system will start with 300 cars and will cost 23ct per minute.

• “Call-a-bike” is also introduced by Mr Stürmer (see Chapter 7).

7. On-site visit of the pedelec rental facilities of “eCall-a-bike” in

Stuttgart

Karl-Heinz Erdt, (DB Rent) introduced the pedelec rental facilities of “eCall-a-Bike” in Stuttgart city centre.


In a first step Mr Erdt explained details of the “ordinary” bicycle renting system “Call-a-bike”. In Stuttgart the system is a fix system, in some cities e.g. Munich it also exists as flexible system. In Stuttgart 400 bicycles and 45 stations are in use, the bicycles were used about 100.000 times in 2011.

• The clients have to register beforehand, public transport clients get a discount. There are three ways to rent a bike:

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o Via mobile phone: Each bike has an own number that can be called to rent it. For the operator this is the most expensive way, because each call has to be forwarded.

o Via smartphone app: The rentable bikes nearby are shown, the number of rentals via app increases.

o At the terminal itself.

• Renting a bicycle cost 8 ct from the 31st minute on / also daily tariff.

• If a bicycle needs to be repaired, a service number can be called. Keeping the rental station clean and removing and repairing not working bicycles fast is very important for the public image.

• A service crew / DB rent employees regularly check the stations and also spread the bicycles, when one station is overcrowded. In most cases the rented bicycles are used one-way (rented and given back at different stations). In case of overcrowding the bicycles can be locked and given back when not connected to the station directly (electronic signal to the station). The pedelecs have to be given back and connected to a station, because they have to be charged. Generally there is a possibility to lock the bikes when the user wants to continue his trip.

• Mr Erdt talks about two main user profiles for the “ordinary” bicycles:

o For short trips during the week. Commuters and also a lot at night, when there is few public transport

o At weekends, manly tourists. Outnumber the usage on week days

• The station based renting system fits best to the requirements in Stuttgart with a high population density. The City of Stuttgart also wanted to structure the public space in the inner city by not using a flexible system. Generally a combination of a fixed and a flexible system is possible. Pedelecs are a perfect addition as offer for business people to get up the steep hills, surrounding the inner city.

• DB rent plans to further optimise the system and e.g. also integrate cargo bikes.

The pedelec project “eCall-a-bike” was started in Stuttgart in 2011 as pilot project in Germany and was 50% state funded. In the beginning the pedelecs, esp. the batteries had technical problems. These mainly were caused by the only 7 month of development time for concept, vehicles, stations etc. The optimised system started again in April 2012 with revised batteries. For 2013 it is planned to totally revise the system again and start with optimised pedelecs in serial production as last step of the learning process. Today 100 pedelecs operate in Stuttgart what makes it the biggest project of its kind in Germany.

• Renting a pedelec is not different from renting an “ordinary” bicycle. As intermodal option owners of a monthly public transport ticket also get a discount when renting a pedelec. Renting a pedelec costs 12ct per minute from the first minute on/ also daily tariffs.

• The pedelecs were specially designed and produced for DB rent and did cost 1500 € each. Most important are practicability and function as form of mobility, no fancy design. Also the electronic support depends on the step-power, so the support is given, when driving up the hills where it is needed.

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• The charging state of the battery is shown by lights (green, yellow, red) on a display, the batteries only fit into the DB system.

• Most expensive was the pedelec station, especially the underground accesses, cables etc. The pedelec station is not usable for the “ordinary” bikes.

• As there is not much vandalism in Stuttgart an insurance for the pedelecs was not seen as necessary.

• As the pedelec rental system started only a couple of days ago there is no data about the usage available yet.

• Generally the City of Stuttgart as service orderer and part-financer has big influence on all details the renting system. The biggest interest besides the forerunner position is the emission reduction.

• For DB rent the public relation aspect is currently most important because the 400 bicycles and pedelecs are very good visible in the cityscape.

• Interesting for DB rent to optimise the rental systems would be the analysis of the client data on mobility behaviour.

• Mr Erdt only sees bigger cities with a certain population density / short ways as suitable for rental systems like the one from DB rent.

8. Feedback session/ review

During the review session on the train back the Frankfurt airport the participants got the chance to give their feedback on the lessons learned and what they would like to experience on the next study trip. A collection of the most interesting points is given below:

• The study trip came just at the right time for most participants and gave the chance to compare different kinds of rental systems and e-mobility vehicles and projects.

• The project partners mentioned that it is of major importance to be sure what the aim of the demonstrators is. If regular pedelec use, renting as many as possible, long term rental or the promotion of self-owned pedelecs should be in the focus. Also the target trips and target groups will be though over in some of the forerunner cities, because it has to be chosen carefully, especially when having the long term effects in mind.

• It became clear that pedelec rental is still in a pioneer phase, that there is no money to earn at this stage and that especially small cities need to develop own and new ideas. The seen examples were rated to basically fit for bigger cities and the possibility to take flexible systems into consideration for smaller cities was mentioned.

• Details that were presented during the study trip and that were rated as positive input were e.g. the problem of space use in the city centres, the combination of park & charge, the high speed cycling paths, the business ideas / solutions, the importance of maintenance and the big role and necessity of communal engagement.

• Main wishes for next study trips were to focus on the part of promotion, education and how to change people’s behaviour. Also the user point of view and experiences on this point are interesting for future events.

2012-05-04 elmos study trip offenbach report · hotel graf in offenbach tuesday, 24 april 2012:...

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