Project Leader: Professor Phil Blythe
Sponsors: CENEX: Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies
Partners: ONE North East
Website: http://www.cenex.co.uk/projects/electric-vehicle-trials/smart-move
Start/end dates: 2010-2011
Contact: phil.blythe@ncl.ac.uk
The Smart Move trial was the first in the UK to investigate the movements and behaviour of electric vehicles (EVs) in trials with end users from local businesses. Newcastle University developed an in-vehicle data logging and analysis infrastructure to monitor a fleet of vehicles provided to NE businesses by CENEX. The description and initial results report details a study integrating the first generation demonstrator smart car electric vehicles into public sector fleets in the North East of England during early 2010. The results published by CENEX demonstrated that back-to-base vehicle fleets can provide a successful 'early adopter' market for EVs, even in the absence of a widespread EV infrastructure network. The report was also one of the first to quantify the effect of range anxiety on vehicle usage patterns.