Environmental Car Days - OPET Sweden

Summary
In 1999, OPET Sweden arranged an international seminar entitled "Environmental Car Day" in connection with the OPET Annual General Meeting in September. This became the first in a series of seminars on the same theme held across the years that followed.

The seminar was organised in connection with a national seminar on the same theme. The Minister for Environment opened the events and was also presented with issues requiring higher priority in order to enable the implementation of environmentally friendlier cars. During the seminars, it was also possible to drive most of the vehicles available in Sweden.

End-user area	Legal initiatives (municipal regulations, directives, etc) Transport and mobility User behaviour
Target audience	Decision makers Local and regional authorities Transport companies Other: - Participants of Network Environment Friendly Transportation - Private companies
Technical scope	Other: Fuels and vehicles

Context
The problem behind the development of environmentally friendlier vehicles and fuels is the famous 'chicken and egg problem'. Without available fuels, no one will supply the vehicles - and without vehicles no one supplies the fuels needed. This problematic situation led to the planning of a series of 'Environmental Car Days' with the focus being upon municipalities and fleet owners. (These groups usually have their own filling facilities and can therefore more easily adopt alternative fuels in smaller amounts.)

Objectives
The aim of the project was to continue the implementation of fuels and vehicles on a national level, through the municipalities, and also to overcome tax problems in order to enhance implementation.

The main strategy was to organise a conference and exhibition to enable new organisations and municipalities to see that these cars are no different from the 'ordinary' ones.

The longer term objective was to encourage these target groups to purchase cleaner vehicles (using biofuels) to create a critical mass of vehicles in order to have the infrastructure for cleaner fuels in place.

Process
The process of increasing the number of environmentally friendlier fuels and vehicles took off in Sweden in the late 1990s. Since the Swedish experience covered the more common types of fuels and vehicles, it seemed to be a good starting point to have these more or less local and regional activities disseminated both across Sweden and throughout the OPET network.

The two main technologies disseminated were gas vehicles, mainly bi-fuel versions, and flexi fuel vehicles. Flexi fuelled vehicles, at the time mainly being the Ford Taurus, and the recently started technology procurement contributed to the creation of both a buyers group and more vehicles available.

Ford Taurus- Flexi Fuel	VOLVO s60 2.4 Bi-Fuel CNG	Fiat Punto- Bi-power

The main target groups were municipalities and organisations with their own filling stations because of their importance and ability to solve the tank station situation more easily in the first steps in new municipalities or regions.

Seminars demonstrating good practices and giving the opportunity to test-drive new vehicles are the natural way to get more new buyers to accept the fact that these vehicles are no different in performance than ordinary petrol and diesel vehicles. This is why one of the most important activities in our preparation was to have the vehicles on site and provide a venue where it was possible to actually drive the vehicles under normal conditions.

Approximately 500 invitations were sent to the international seminar, mainly within Europe. Networks such as Clean Cities and The Frontline Stakeholders for Climate-Friendly Transportation, among others, were used as mailing lists for the invitation. 51 people attended the seminar, of which 20 were from Asia. The Asian delegates belonged to a network of environmental friendly transportation financed by different aid organisations.

During the seminar, the Thermie projects ZEUS and ELCIDIS, as well as national good practices, were presented.

Actions
- Seminar
- Exhibition
- Other

Financial resources and partners
The first project in 1999 cost € 15,000, of which the European commission contributed € 3,750.

Results
The questionnaires completed by the audience after the seminars reflect the need for further similar actions. At the international seminar, 76% thought the seminar was good or very good, 82% said they would use some of the technologies described in the seminar.

At the national seminar, 78% thought the seminar was good or very good, 69% said they would use some of the technologies described in the seminar.

As a result of the international seminar, the work to include environmental cars in the Czech Republic strategy was started. Delegates from Cyprus were in touch with one of the lecturers concerning the development of a biogas plant for transport fuel in Nicosia, and a participating Swedish municipality has started collaboration with its neighbouring municipality for the procurement of environmental cars. Also, some first steps regarding bio-ethanol have been taken in Poland, with the experiences from Sweden as state of the art.

As a result of the national seminars, several procurements of environmental cars have started and two Swedish municipalities have included environmental cars in their policy documents and environmental plans. In addition, a note on mismatches in the regulations for leasing of cars was presented to the Minister, eventually resulting in the adaptation of the regulations in favour of environmental friendly cars. A number of articles have been written about the events. These articles were published in both national and regional newspapers, as well as in different branch magazines.

The national work has resulted in a national website on vehicles and fuels, where it is possible to find, among other things, a list of all available filling stations.

Lessons learned and replication potential
One of the most positive aspects of this action was that the municipalities that participated in the seminars continued the work with environmentally friendlier cars and that a large number got involved in the national technology procurement of FFV (Flexi Fuel Vehicles) cars. This led to a total number of 4000 cars sold, and a large part of these were sold to municipalities.

This has also improved the situation concerning filling stations, meaning that once the cars are on the market more filling stations followed immediately.

In 2004, there are more than 8000 FFV's sold in Sweden and a second version with this engine type is to be launched this year. More than 50% of the Ford Focuses sold in Sweden 2003 were FFV's.

The largest problem with implementing fuels and vehicles is that both are needed at the same time. There is a need to have the fuel logistics organised as well as the cars to sell. One solution is to focus first on the user groups with own filling facilities, such as municipalities and different transport actors.