Østkraft (Bornholm’s power utility), the Regional Municipality of Bornholm, and a number of universities and businesses have joined forces in a project aiming to establish the use of electric vehicles in the Bornholm community between 2009 and 2011.
Today, the whole world is focusing on climate change and what humankind can do to mitigate its impact on the climate. On Bornholm, our ambition is to become one of the first places in Europe to manage without fossil fuels, while reducing our energy consumption at the same time. A big step towards achieving this would be to replace ordinary cars with electric vehicles – as transportation is one of the most polluting and energy-intensive sectors in modern society.
The Regional Municipality of Bornholm is teaming up with Østkraft (Bornholm’s power utility) to replace a number of the municipality’s cars with electric vehicles. The initial focus is primarily on small cars used in the municipality’s home nursing services and administration. The possibility of replacing delivery vans is currently being looked into.
At present, only a few electric vehicles currently on the market have the capacity to replace ordinary cars, due to the relatively limited range and limited top speed of the electric vehicles. Even so, electric vehicles which can replace traditional cars and meet daily transport needs for most families are just around the corner.
Bornholm as a testing and demonstration centre
As electric vehicles gradually penetrate the market, more and more consumers will become interested in the possibility of replacing their car with an electric vehicle. Many questions will naturally arise in this connection.
This is one of the reasons why it is planned to establish a testing and demonstration centre for electric vehicles on Bornholm. At the centre, consumers will be able to receive impartial advice about electric vehicles and their advantages and drawbacks compared to an ordinary car. It will also be possible for consumers to test-drive various electric vehicles and, for instance, go for a drive around Bornholm (~100 km). As part of the electric-vehicle manufacturing process, it could also be feasible to test the vehicles on Bornholm, thus providing a uniform benchmark for various types of electric vehicles.
The EDISON project
Østkraft is also involved with electric vehicles through taking part in a large project named EDISON which aims to develop the technology required for managing the recharging of electric vehicles. Today there are only a few electric vehicles on Danish roads. This means that there are no problems with regard to recharging the vehicles. But as large numbers of Denmark’s cars are gradually replaced by electric vehicles, the technology will have mature.
The EDISON project started in March 2009 and will last for about three years. Østkraft’s role in the project is to test the technology developed. This means that a larger number of electric vehicles will be driving around on Bornholm by the end of the project and that their recharging and discharging will have to be managed.
The EDISON project will be studying whether it is possible for an electric vehicle, once connected to the power grid, to sell electricity to the grid when the grid’s demand for electricity is high.
The project is supported by government research funds, allocated by Energinet.DK, and the participants besides Østkraft are the Technological University of Denmark, DTU/Risø National Laboratory, DONG, IBM, Siemens and the Danish Energy Association.