Giuseppe Pace

Cohousing and EV Sharing: Field Tests in Flanders

This paper investigates the potential of electric vehicles (EVs) in a context of a pilot test in Belgium, consisting of car sharing services managed and exploited in small communities. Part of a broader testing activity in the framework of the e-Mobility NSR project, the test had the objective of metering EVs’ charging and consumption in real daily transport operations, but soon it acquired new meanings. It shaped EV sharing services at a small scale, directly managed by the users, which also share energy and maintenance costs. The chosen context was cohousing, a special type of collaborative housing, and four ones were selected in Flanders: two urban units and two larger semi-urban ones. The two urban communities received a prepaid card for reserving and using EVs provided by Cambio, a Belgian car sharing company. The other two cohousings received two EVs and a charging box, organising and running an internal car sharing system for the duration of 1 year. During the tests, quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The paper reports the intermediate results, identifying potential EV sharing consumers, based on their behaviour and attitudes in relation to the condition of the local context in which they live.

Multimodal, intermodal and terminals

This chapter focuses on the operational performance of rail freight terminals and security of intermodal interfaces in a framework of integrated transportation network. In an increasingly competitive and commercialised world, there is an increasing demand to be able to rank transport options and routes in some way. Drawing on new material, this study attempts to outline possible methods for assessing performance by key performance indicators. Intermodality demands for going beyond safeguarding the individual modes to ensuring the security of the intermodal interfaces (terminals), the nodes that link and integrate passenger and freight flows. That demands for an integrated holistic approach built on the collaboration between international, national organisations and operators. The study put emphasis on the security challenges and threats to freight transport generally and in rail–sea interfaces more specifically. It moves into the regulations already governing security in rail–sea interfaces. Finally, it focuses on the role that infrastructure planning can play in improving security and offers some conclusions and recommendations for the future.