Funding for the electrification of municipal and commercial fleets plays a central role in the current funding guideline “Electromobility on site” and in the BMVI's planned continuation of funding for electromobility from 2021.
In the re-tendering of the topic “Framework and Market”, specific issues relating to the procurement and integration of electric vehicles in municipal and commercial vehicle fleets are to be dealt with and concrete support for procurement and fleet management is to be developed. For this purpose, a practical guideline for action and an interactive, internet-based decision-making tool are being developed. Compared to earlier funding phases, there is growing interest among fleets in a broader conversion to electric vehicles. The fleets play a decisive role in the market ramp-up.
The other focal points of the thematic area are, on the one hand, the observation and analysis of the political and regulatory framework conditions, the funding measures of the federal and state governments and the development of electric vehicles. Building on this, the market development in Germany up to 2030 is to be forecast and the need for funding derived. On the other hand, the market development in important foreign markets as well as the respective political framework conditions should be observed and analyzed. Recommendations for action for German politics are to be derived from this.
The model regions for electromobility and their accompanying research were originally launched by the BMVI in 2009 as part of the economic stimulus package II. Significant vehicle fleet sizes and infrastructure units have been established in the model regions. In addition, fixed structures were established within the project landscape and the accompanying research. The BMVI has been funding electromobility since June 2015 within the framework of the “Electromobility on site” funding guideline (adjustment on December 5, 2017). With its 3 funding pillars, the procurement of electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure necessary for operation, the creation of electromobility concepts and application-oriented research and development projects, this essentially aims to support municipalities. Since municipalities operate their own vehicle fleets and fleets and are also responsible for local mobility planning, measures at the municipal level have a high dissemination effect. As part of the current funding guidelines, the procurement of 16,000 e-vehicles and 8,000 charging stations, the implementation of 209 electromobility concepts and 27 R&D projects have been funded by the beginning of 2020. The current funding program, which expires at the end of the year, is to be replaced from 2021 by a new funding guideline with a similar structure and similar funding objects, which has yet to be designed.
The basic structures from the phase of the model regions (links with regional actors, cross-program accompanying research) have been adopted in the current funding program. The overarching accompanying research continues to aim to provide applied and scientific support to the funding program, to evaluate measures, to research and analyze essential overarching issues and thus to advise politics. In addition, findings from projects and regions are to be brought together for programmatic exploitation. In the federal states, existing contacts to the regional project control centers such as state energy and state electric mobility agencies can be used. Twice a year, all those involved, federal actors (BMVI, PtJ, NOW) as well as the project control centers and representatives of accompanying research meet within the framework of the BMVI's strategy group for electromobility.
The accompanying research across all programs addresses 3 subject areas in the current funding program (“Innovative drives and vehicles”, “Networked mobility” and “Framework conditions and market”). The earlier accompanying research “charging infrastructure” has been integrated into the “National Charging Infrastructure Control Center” since the beginning of 2020. The research accompanying the program is supplemented by knowledge management, central data monitoring (ZDM) and the electromobility starter set. Knowledge in the field of electromobility is collected and processed in NOW's knowledge management. The main task of knowledge management is to provide the BMVI with support for technical inquiries. The ZDM bundles all data relevant to the program and carries out its own surveys and evaluations. In particular, vehicle and charging infrastructure data from data loggers installed in selected e-vehicles as well as master and operating data from the procurement projects are analyzed. In addition, the KBA figures are analyzed as part of the ZDM and the charging infrastructure development in Germany is recorded. The ZDM NOW has been implemented internally since February 2020. The accompanying research framework and market will work closely with the ZDM, especially in the observation of market developments (WP 2) and the evaluation of procurement projects (WP 3). The electromobility starter set (www.starterset-elektromobilitaet.de), which is operated by NOW on behalf of the BMVI, is intended to address municipalities and municipal companies in particular. Here you will find information and recommendations for action that are important for the implementation of the topic of electromobility. The findings from the accompanying research are also used in the electromobility starter set.