Cardiff Council’s Electric Vehicle Strategy
Helping Cardiff Council develop an Electric Vehicle Strategy
PROJECT STORY
The challenge
The ban on all new petrol and diesel vehicle sales by 2035 meant Cardiff Council needed to improve electric vehicle charging in the city.
The solution
Arcadis worked with Cardiff Council on a step-by-step guide for transition. Our decision-making framework offers a blueprint for cities planning future mobility.
The impact
Cardiff's city-wide roll-out of EV charging points gives a clear message – that it's committed to switching to sustainable modes of transport and reducing air pollution for its citizens.
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sustainable transport strategy
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electric vehicle charging network
The challenge
For many, life without a car is unthinkable, but the hard reality is that transport contributes to 20% of the world’s CO2 emissions and 7 million people die from air pollution every year. With the Government's ban on all new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035, the evolution to an ultra-low-emission future is non-negotiable. If we can't stop driving, we must go electric. And Cardiff - severely lacking in charge points – needed help developing a robust network to make the switch.
The solution
The Welsh capital is an ambitious city with huge growth plans: up to 40,000 new jobs and homes are forecast by 2026. But with these projections come a number of challenges, including pressure on the transport network and escalating vehicle emissions. With this in mind, Cardiff Council is targeting 50% of all journeys to be made by sustainable means by 2026. But if more people are to make the shift to Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs), there needed to be a more comprehensive charging infrastructure in place. This is where Arcadis came in.
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In Wales, the Welsh Government leads transport policy direction, but there is no dedicated funding for local authorities and no policy for new developments to provide Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points. Offering attractive and realistic charging opportunities for private car users had to be a priority for Cardiff Council. However, at the same time the council also needed to realise its ambitions around improving air quality, reducing carbon emissions and delivering wider societal and economic benefits. This meant delivering a much wider sustainable transport strategy that supported EV as one of a number of mobility related, carbon reduction solutions.
We worked with Cardiff Council to make sure that the EV agenda sat alongside its sustainable transport strategy. We provided a step-by-step guide for creating a strategy for Electric Vehicle transition, which can be used by internal council departments to provide a decision-making framework and offers a blueprint that will help any city review its future mobility strategy.
Key Elements of the 6-Step Guide
Using the City’s vision as a starting point, define detailed objectives.Review the current market.Develop an appropriate stakeholder engagement strategy. Who needs to be part of the decision-making process?Establish business and operating models that will work long-term.Enable rollout. Is the plan seamless, does it meet required standards, and does it provide the best user experience?Manage & maintain. Reliability is key to user confidence.Our approach combines consultancy, innovative infrastructure development, data and technology; all of which is central to creating an Electric Vehicle strategy that will help reduce air pollution, carbon dioxide and congestion.
The impact
Generating confidence
The Government's vision of a future where people drive only electric vehicles is entirely dependent on a charging infrastructure that's fit for purpose. People need to have confidence in the system.
Cardiff's commitment to a city-wide roll-out of EV charging points gives a clear message – that the city is serious about sustainable transport and ready for its drivers to choose electric.
Used capabilities
