Five scenarios for the integration of renewable energy sources and electromobility in Lviv
Lviv aims to develop electric public transport as a top priority, as well as to integrate renewable energy sources (RES) into electric transport systems. These topics were the focus of a webinar held on April 4, 2024, organized by NGO Vision Zero and the Association of Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine (EECU).
The purpose of the event was to familiarize participants with the strategic planning document on the transition to electric transport in the city and the possibilities of integrating RES at the facilities of public utilities. The webinar attended about 45 participants from about 35 Ukrainian cities and towns, most of whom were employees of local governments and municipal transport companies.
Key goals for the development of electric mobility in Lviv
The first speaker was Orest Oleskiv, Head of the Transport Department of Lviv City Council (LCC). He presented the Lviv Electromobility Development Plan until 2035, introduced in 2021-2022 and approved by the Lviv City Council on March 28, 2024. "This plan is part of our strategic vision, in particular, it is part of the Sustainable Mobility Plan for Lviv approved in 2020...," Orest Oleskiv said.
According to him, the need to develop and adopt a separate document on the development of electric mobility in Lviv is caused by the popularity of private electric transport (electric cars) and light personal transport (electric scooters and electric bicycles) in recent years.
The Lviv Electromobility Development Plan until 2035 sets five key goals:
- modern rolling stock of public transport (battery trolleybus, battery bus and battery tram);
- developed infrastructure of trams and trolleybuses (this includes, among other things, the modernization of power supply lines and traction substations, as well as the installation of roof solar power plants at the facilities of transport enterprises);
- electric urban logistics;
- sharing electric mobility;
- charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.
Scenarios for the integration of RES and electromobility
The second presentation of the webinar was presented by Demyan Danyliuk, public transport expert at NGO Vision Zero. His presentation described in detail five possible scenarios for the use of RES for the development of electric mobility in Lviv. These are:
- installation of rooftop SPPs on the premises of the city's municipal transport enterprises for self-consumption and charging of electric buses;
- arrangement of canopies (roofs) over tram stops in Sykhiv with solar panels that generate energy to power trams;
- construction of bicycle garages with rooftop SPPs for charging electric bicycles and electric scooters stored inside;
- arranging conventional charging hubs and SPPs for charging private electric vehicles and electric bicycles;
- creation of fast charging hubs at the existing traction substations of Lvivelectrotrans for electric taxis and electric vehicles of urban logistics.
Demyan Danyliuk also named several promising SPP projects that can be equipped at the facilities of municipal transport enterprises. In particular, it is about the creation of a roof SPP in the tram depot No. 2 with a capacity of about 436 kW and in the trolleybus depot with a capacity of more than 958 kW.
Current issues of electromobility
The final part of the webinar featured a discussion of current issues related to the development of electric mobility in Ukrainian cities. One of the questions raised by the webinar attendees was the ambiguity of Law No. 2956 "On Certain Issues of the Use of Vehicles Equipped with Electric Motors...", which actually lobbies for the use of electric vehicles and electric buses, but neglects other types of electric transport, such as trams and trolleybuses.
"Indeed, there are many questions to this law, as it provides for certain percentages and quotas for the transition to electric transport, especially electric buses, but it does not take into account the concepts we have voiced today... In general, this law does not in any way encourage Ukrainian cities to develop such environmentally friendly modes of transport as trams and trolleybuses. Instead, in its strategy, the city of Lviv emphasizes the development of the tram and trolleybus network, and defines electric buses as an auxiliary mode of transportation in places where trams and trolleybuses cannot be used," commented Orest Oleskiv.
Another issue concerned the regulation of electric scooter traffic in the communities and the city in particular. According to the head of the Lviv City Council's transport department, the city authorities are trying to regulate the use of electric scooters within their authority. "In the city center, we have identified places where rental services should unload their scooters. We have also agreed with them to collect rent for the use of these areas," explained Orest Oleskiv.
He added that the city authorities managed to reach an agreement with the rental services on a new maximum speed limit for scooters - 20 km/h (previously it was 25 km/h). However, according to the official, the issue of how and where electric scooters should be used is not within the competence of the city authorities. This problem can be solved by amending the legislation, as this type of transport is not yet included in the Traffic Rules.
TUMIVolt
It is worth noting that the scenarios for integrating RES and electromobility in Lviv were developed and presented to the public as part of the German-Ukrainian project "TUMIVolt - Urban Mobility from Renewable Energy Sources" aimed at promoting the potential of RES for urban mobility and reducing the carbon footprint of public transport.
The project is sponsored by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and implemented by the TUMI (Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, as well as the Ukrainian company Oresund, which specializes in transport modeling and sustainable mobility development.