Small and Light Electric Vehicles: An Analysis of Feasible Transport Impacts and Opportunities for Improved Urban Land Use

Abstract

Improvements in battery technology have resulted in small and light electric vehicles (LEVs) appearing on the market in Europe since 2011—however, their market share is still comparatively low. Low energy requirements and small size can potentially contribute to sustainable mobility in terms of climate protection and reduced local emissions. Our study evaluates how three-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, categorised as L-Class according to Regulation (EU) No 168/2013, can contribute to more efficient use of space in urban areas. Evaluations of expert interviews, an extensive literature research, and analyses of the German national household travel survey (MiD) serve as the basis of the study. First, the substitution potential of trips through LEVs is explored using MiD data. Our findings show that between 17% and 49% of trips made and 6% to 30% of the distance covered by private trips can theoretically be substituted by LEVs. Thus, reorganisation of current land use offers potential and additionally, LEVs are an attractive and sustainable addition to other means of transport and contribute to achieving the climate protection goals of the transport sector. Due to the fact that technology application is restricted by travel behaviour and political support, our study discusses possible support by public bodies towards sustainable mobility. Here, the promotion of LEVs in combination with restrictive measures for cars is necessary.

Can battery swapping stations make micro-mobility more environmentally sustainable?

“…Shared mobility has the potential to change the traditional transportation industry in a disruptive way and offers social, economic and environmental benefits [1]. In particular, light electric vehicles (LEVs), which require less energy and resources for production and operation, can be an element in such sustainable mobility concepts [2]. Nevertheless, previous research in the field of LEV sharing shows that several factors like a short lifetime of shared vehicles, charging concepts [5], non-swappable batteries [6] and the charging infrastructure [7] can also have negative environmental impacts.…”

Systematic Method for Developing Reference Driving Cycles Appropriate to Electric L-Category Vehicles

“…This class of vehicles is framed within the L7 category for quadricycles, whose unladen mass is not more than 400 kg (not including the mass of batteries in the case of electric vehicles) and whose maximum net engine power does not exceed 15 kW [10]. These small vehicles are generally within the M1 category according to the UNECE global technical regulations [11,12]. However, this classification changes over the geographical area.…”

Design of the Personal Electrics Vehicle

“…In addition, he developed another personal vehicle for usage in daily life (8). Investigation of electric vehicle usage in urban land was conducted by Amelie Ewert et al Their findings show that 30% of personal private trips could be done with light electric vehicles (LEVs) (9).…”