Name of GP initiative ELMO: Estonian electro-mobility programme Number of GP initiative EE1 Region / Country László Szabó ([email protected]) Author / Email

Institution BCE-REKK Short general description: In 2011, Estonia launched the mobility system, ELMO, aimed at promoting the use of this environmentally friendly mode of transport. The goal of the programme was to speed up the commissioning of electric cars in Estonia and to increase the use of renewable energy by 2020.

The project was financed from sales of CO2 emission units (known as assigned amount units, or AAUs). In March 2011, the Government of the Republic of Estonia sold 10 million AAUs to Mitsubishi Corporation to finance its electrical mobility programme.

By January 2013, more than 1,900 fast chargers had been installed throughout the world, 521 of them outside . As a result of this initiative, Estonia now has the world’s largest operational public fast-charging network, providing a universal nationwide service with 165 fast charging points. (This information comes from CHAdeMO, an organisation supporting the fast-charging standard.)

There are 619 all-electric cars on the Estonian traffic register, about 500 of them used by various state authorities. Estonia ranks second in the world after in terms of its share of electric vehicles: there is one electric car registered per 1,000 cars in Estonia, compared to four in Norway. The ranks third, with 0.6 electric cars registered per 1,000 cars. Year of implementation: 2011 Time horizon of initiative/map/etc.: 2011–2014 Steps of creating the initiative/roadmap/strategy: The programme comprises three main steps: • Approximately 500 Mitsubishi electric cars were purchased by the Ministry of Social Affairs to start building up an electric car pool. • The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications developed a support system for promoting the purchase of electric cars in Estonia. The support system covers natural persons and companies. • By November 2013, a total of 165 fast chargers had been installed in Estonia, covering the entire country. In addition to quick chargers, ordinary chargers will also be installed at the premises of all local governments participating in the project, for convenient charging during working hours. Targets and targets determination: The stations cover the entire country. The target is to create a charging network in which the maximum distance between two stations is 40 to 60 km, and to cover all settlements with at least 3,000 inhabitants. The planned number of fast charging stations is between 200 and 250. Success factors: - Uniform payment system (using mobile phone or authorisation card) and flexible contract types for car rental. The car rental tariff is EUR 6/hour for the first hour, and EUR 3/hour for subsequent hours. - Fast charging infrastructure: 90 percent charging in less than 30 minutes, which is sufficient for around 140 km of driving.

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- Estonia promotes the quicker deployment of electric vehicles by providing direct support to both natural and legal persons in the form of a lump sum payment of a maximum of EUR 18,000 for the purchase of the vehicle. Also, new owners of electric vehicles can apply for support of EUR 1,000 to set up a charging system at their home.

Barriers: The main barrier is the fact that the cost of an electric car is roughly double that of a car with an internal combustion engine. The high price is due to the need for a high-technology battery, which represents about 40 to 50 percent of the total price. If a car is purchased by the ministry but used for private purposes as well, then it needs to be 50 percent co- financed by the customer, which makes the grant scheme less popular in Estonia.

People may be afraid to buy an electric car due to doubts about how the vehicles behave in cold climates. The driving range of electric cars is limited to between 60 and 180 km, depending on the model. Responsibility of application: The distribution of the purchase grant and the administration of the fast charging network are the responsibility of the KredEx Foundation. KredEx is a non-profit financing organisation created by the Government of Estonia with the aim of promoting entrepreneurship and energy efficiency solutions for private enterprises and natural persons. The responsible institution therefore already existed and serves multiple purposes. Implementation costs: Initial programme funding came from the sale of 10 million AAUs. Assuming the average price for an AAU in 2011 (based on information from Carbon Market Watch), this amounts to EUR 50 million. Economic effects (GDP, employment, etc.): ELMO programme funds supported the acquisition of about 500 electric cars and plug-charged hybrid vehicles. By the third quarter of 2013, a total of 11,513 charging sessions had taken place, with an average charging rate of 8.6 KWh per session. This means a total of 99 MWh of electricity were used by the system (based on data from elmo.ee). Calculating with an average of 0.135 kWh/km, the system achieved over 730,000 km of “green energy driving” in Estonia. The charging system is fuelled with green electricity, which means that as well as reducing gasoline use, the scheme also promotes green electricity. Links: http://elmo.ee/about/ http://www.kredex.ee/kredex/news/estonia-becomes-the-first-in-the-world-to-open-a-nationwide- ev-fast-charging-network/ http://www.transport-research.info/web/Programmes/Programme_details.cfm?ID=45172 http://www.mkm.ee/technology-and-innovation/ Others:

Green certificate purchasing To ensure the use of green energy in the purchased vehicles, grant recipients are obliged to purchase green certificates according to the number of kilometres driven per year. KredEx allocates green certificates to grant recipients for 5 MWh per electric car. If users drive more than this, additional green certificates must be purchased by the owner of the electric car. Green certificates are helpful when calculating the usage of renewable energy in transport. The scheme does not use an actual green energy option available in the country. Instead, the RECS International system (http://www.recs.org), which includes 220 producers from 22 countries, is used for the issuing and exchange of certificates. In 2010, the price was EUR 1 to 2 per MWh for a green energy certificate. The owner of an electric car might use an estimated 1 to 2 MWh of electricity per year, thus the estimated green credit provided by KredEx would be sufficient to cover the usage of an

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electric car for the first four years, assuming average use (data from elmo.ee).

Research and development Tallinn University of Technology adds a research dimension to the project by analysing the use of battery-powered cars and the charging network itself. This sets good preconditions for bringing together electro-mobility R&D know-how in Estonia (see Kredex.ee). This document was developed in the framework of the LOCSEE project.

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