Analysis of car based trip chains in Norway and Denmark shows that most trips and trip chains are short. This means that electric vehicles (EV) can be used in more than 90 per cent of all trips, weather it is a single car trip or a trip chain (a car based chain starts and ends at home, and the car is used at one or more trips). A normal EV has a range of the batteries of 120 km in the summer season and 80 km during winter.
On the rather few travel days with a travel length longer than 80 km respective 120 km, 29 percent (80 km) and 24 percent (120 km) in Norway have a stop at home between 1-5 hours, which gives a possibility for recharging (partly or nearly full). In Denmark the shares are nearly the same. There is however several other places people stops. A large part of the car trips is related to shopping and service. Recharging stations located at shopping centres gives these drivers a possibility to manage the total trip chain.
The aim of the study is, by the help of available data, to do a comparable analysis of the potential use of EVs in Austria, Denmark and Norway. In this context primarily data from Denmark and Norway are used. The researchers have been interested in examining for what purposes, travel lengths and different social groups the EVs are a good solution.
The incentives for buying and using EVs in the three countries are very different. Norway has the most beneficial incentives of the three, which has resulted in a high level of penetration of EVs in the country and with the world’s highest number of EVs relative to the population.
Special questions about different aspects of electric cars were added to the Danish national travel survey. As many as about 80 percent of the Danish respondents would not consider buying an EV. The knowledge about electric cars is low, as many as 33 percent say that they have no knowledge.
