Project Details

Project goal

Eco-driving is driving that optimises energy use and contributes significantly to emission reduction as promoted by the European Commission. Identifying and reducing inefficient driving habits (e.g. harsh braking, hard accelerating) and energy-wasting manoeuvres (e.g. idling) has the potential to reduce both operating costs and emissions as well as to increase passenger safety.

While the potential of eco-driving for private cars and diesel buses is well understood, eco-driving for electric fleets in the public transport sector is not yet widely known or practiced.

Against this background, ACTUATE's main goal was to provide trainings and education for safe eco-driving of clean vehicles.

Results

If entire electric bus and tram fleets can be made more energy efficient through driver training, several thousand euros and vast quantities of energy can be saved per vehicle per year. This also means reducing air pollution and CO₂ emissions in our cities, and an even bigger environmental advantage for clean public transport vehicles over comparable diesel vehicles and private cars.

ACTUATE worked towards improved driving behaviour and motivation of clean vehicle public transport drivers to drive more eco-friendly. The project defined minimum criteria and standards for safe eco-driving and integrated these into basic and further education at numerous public transport operator organisations as well as into the future European Qualification Framework for professional drivers. ACTUATE also integrated safe eco-driving information per electric vehicle type into the clean vehicle portal of the European Commission. All outputs and results of the project such as minimum training criteria, learning outcomes and standards for safe eco-driving will help other public transport providers to train their own drivers in a tried and tested manner.

ACTUATE provided a range of information material on safe eco-driving of electric bus and tram fleets. This included a starter kit as well as free e-learning courses for safe eco-driving for the four defined types of electric vehicles. ACTUATE also developed dedicated driver training concepts for trams, trolleybuses, hybrid buses and trolleybuses with supercapacitors as well as golden rules for safe eco-driving. In addition, ACTUATE published its evaluation results for energy savings and effects on driving performance generated solely through trainings (before and after comparisons).

Project partners

• Barnim Bus GmbH, Eberswalde, Germany
• Dopravní podnik mesta Brna, a.s., DPMB, Brno, Czech Republic
• Leipziger Aus- und Weiterbildungsbetriebe GmbH, LAB, Leipzig, Germany
• Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (LVB), Leipzig, Germany
• Salzburg AG für Energie, Verkehr und Telekommunikation, Salzburg, Austria
• TEP S.p.A., Trasporti Pubblici Parma, Parma, Italy
• Trolleymotion, international action group to promote modern Trolleybus Systems, Austria
• Van Hool NV, Belgium