For this second interview in the ‘Meet the Expert’ series, we invite Jean-Charles Pandazis, Senior Manager at ERTICO – ITS Europe to share some of his own thoughts about the passion for clean and eco-mobility. As custodian for Clean and Eco-Mobility for many years at ERTICO, Jean-Charles has been coordinating several projects and platforms within this field. During this discussion, he mentions a few of the flagship initiatives and their contribution to preceding activities, as well as the advancement of cleaner mobility solutions. The closing words of Jean-Charles touch upon some of the future priorities for ERTICO and highlights the need to change people’s behaviour on how they consume mobility services.
What drives you within the focus area of Clean & Eco Mobility?
My interest in clean and eco-mobility began already during my time at Bosch when working in the pre-development of Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and predictive navigation, says Jean-Charles. When joining ERTICO in 2009, it was a new challenge and mission for me to build the eco-mobility sector. Back then, the focus was to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions but with less emphasis on pollution and air quality. Today, there is a larger focus on developing activities that help reduce the pollutant of ICE vehicles and improve air quality. The trend now within the field of clean and eco-mobility is also more concerned with reducing the human impact on the environment. This is not an easy task, as the impact does not only depend on the type of vehicles consumers are using, but it is the entire transportation system of people and goods that is in question. Technology can bring solutions, but fundamentally, the question is how people consume mobility.
Which projects and platforms have you worked on in this field? Could you name a few which you think has been the biggest contributor to the topic?
Taking a step back, ERTICO has had a number of important activities over the years. As a public-private organisation, ERTICO is a facilitator that brings together all relevant actors around the table to find solutions to improve mobility. These solutions are often developed through Partnership projects and innovation platforms, which help to support the EU in delivering its societal targets. ERTICO’s work within the field of clean and eco-mobility supports the efforts of reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and 90% of transport emissions by 2050.
One of the first flagship projects, eCoMove, contributed to the electrification of vehicles and driving. While leading the coordination of this project, the mission was to develop a combination of cooperative systems and tools using V2X communication to help drivers sustainably eliminate unnecessary fuel consumption, but also to support fleet managers in managing their vehicles more economically and promote eco-driving through feedback and incentives. This project sought to help road operators balance traffic flows in the most energy-efficient way. A key element here was placed on inefficiencies, such as waste of energy. Ultimately, the best energy saved is the one you do not need to spend.
The main results of this project led to the start of other ERTICO activities in the clean and eco-mobility sector, including ecoDriver, optiTRUCK, ecoSTAND, AMITRAN, and MODALES, which is the first one looking at pollutant, including particles emitted from combustion but also tires and brakes. ERTICO also had an electroMobility task force to identify the priorities for the development of eMobility, leading to proceeding projects in the field such as smartCEM, NeMO, eCharge4Drivers, SOLUTIONSplus, and finally, the newly launched NextETRUCK.
Could you explain a bit more about ADASIS and SENSORIS, two of the leading innovation platforms in this field?
Both ADASIS and SENSORIS are organised in the same way and were initiated by NavTech, today known as HERE Technology. ADASIS, introduced 20 years ago, standardise the digital map horizon ahead of the vehicle enabling vehicle functions such as Predictive Powertrain Control leading to a reduction of 5% to 8% in fuel consumption, therefore CO2 emission. This is the activity with the biggest impact on the environment but also safety, this is a de facto industrial-standard.
SENSORIS, initiated in 2016, is enabling sensor data exchange from vehicle to the cloud, but it also offers the possibility to send request to vehicles in a region or area to define data interface and enable manufacturers to upload sensor data. It also enables the use of the vehicle as a probe on the road network providing feedback on current traffic and environment situation. SENSORIS has had large impact on data and prediction, and in particular, through two of its studies made on “ITS for reducing CO2 emissions for passenger cars” and “reducing CO2 emissions and increasing safety of heavy goods vehicles, buses and coaches”. The work of SENSORIS is now focusing on becoming ISO standard.
Going forward, the new NextETRUCK project will help demonstrate next-generation e-mobility concepts for medium distance freight haulage. Electrification of transport is important but should be really assessed with its Life Cycle (LCA Life Cycle Assessment).
What are some of the future priorities to highlight in Clean & Eco Mobility?
Electrification of transport and electro-mobility is at the forefront in this area, including charging infrastructures. Another important aspect is the establishment of a global method for measuring the impact of new solutions in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as well as pollutants. For ERTICO, the focus is also shifting towards developing activities that help change people’s behaviour.
