Dear colleague,

We are pleased to send you the fourth issue of the Clean Fleets newsletter. Please feel free to share this newsletter with interested colleagues.

Kind regards,

Your Clean Fleets team

1. Up for discussion: Is EU law to boost alternative fuels infrastructure a ‘dead letter'?
2. Two tools to help you with the CVD: your thoughts please!
3. Final European workshop: last chance to register
4. Training materials available for download
5. Clean Fleets @ Ecoprocura 2014
6. EV procurement in our Venice of the North, Stockholm

  In the news & up for discussion: 
Is EU law to boost alternative fuels infrastructure a ‘dead letter'?

New EU rules for alternative fuelling infrastructure were given approval by the Council on 29 September 2014, and will shortly be published in the EU Official Journal. Key points include:

• Obligation for Member States to ensure minimum coverage of refuelling points
• Common standards for electric vehicle charging points, as well as natural gas and hydrogen recharging
• Standardised consumer information available in user manuals and recharging points

Member States are expected to set and make public their targets and present their national policy frameworks by end-2016. Press release, European Commission available here. 

However, there has been criticism that the lack of binding EU-wide infrastructure targets will mean the legislation is unlikely to have the desired effect. Article,Transport & Environment available here.

What do you think?

Join the discussion by clicking here.

   TWO TOOLS TO HELP YOU WITH THE CLEAN VEHICLE DIRECTIVE – YOUR THOUGHTS PLEASE!

As part of our ongoing work to assist public authorities and public transport operators in purchasing clean and energy efficient vehicles in compliance with the Clean Vehicles Directive (CVD), the Clean Fleets project has developed two new tools and we would like your feedback!

Guide to procuring clean, energy efficient vehicles (word version)

• Helps purchasing of clean and energy efficient vehicles in compliance with EU legislation like the CVD.
• Presents how environmental criteria can be introduced into different stages of procurement procedures.
• Complemented by various real-life examples from European public authorities.

Life cycle costing (LCC) tool (excel spreadsheet - please enable macros)

• Calculates life-cycle cost of vehicle fleets according to the CVD.

To share your comments with us in response to a few questions for each tool, please click here. 

  FINAL EUROPEAN WORKSHOP – LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER!

The fourth and final European workshop will be held in Rotterdam on 7-8 October 2014. Hosted by Clean Fleets project partner the City of Rotterdam, an engaging and informative workshop programme has been developed as part of the Rotterdam Electric Mobility (REM) Conference, which includes a visit to the Netherland's largest fair on sustainable mobility:

• DAY 1: a chance to ‘meet the vehicles’ currently in use by the City of Rotterdam and hear from the city's fleet provider Roteb. This will be followed in the afternoon by a private tour of the sustainable mobility fair Ecomobiel.

• DAY 2: a workshop sharing experiences in the procurement of electric vehicles will take place in the morning followed by a study visit showcasing the Rotterdam electric vehicle programme, and the opportunity to test drive some of the vehicles currently in use.
  
  
• DAY 3: (New, optional addition as part of the REMC14) a EEO workshop concluding with an electromobility workshop on stimulating EV infrastructure deployment, with practical examples.

The full programme for this conference is available here.

The workshop is open to public authorities and fleet operators in Europe, and other relevant stakeholders. It is free of charge 
and a limited number of travel bursaries are available on request.

 TRAINING MATERIALS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD!

During 2014, two ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops, organised by the Clean Fleets project, were held in Bulgaria and Italy. Tailored towards trainers, consultants and experts in public procurement or leasing of vehicles, these workshops were designed to:

• Present practical tools, supported by best practices, on the implementation of the Clean Vehicles Directive. 
• Enable attendees to gain necessary skills and expertise to replicate the training in their own countries in support to public administrations in purchasing energy-efficient and clean vehicles.

For those interested in training colleagues in their own countries, materials from these workshops are now available online and are free to download. A training video to support the use of these materials will follow shortly. To access these, click here.

   Clean Fleets @ Ecoprocura 2014

Billed as the only European-wide forum on sustainable public procurement, the EcoProcura conference 2014 welcomed over 300 participants by the City of Ghent, and the Clean Fleets project was there to take part. 

Gathering experts and practitioners from all over Europe, the conference, organised by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the City of Ghent, concluded that for Europe to maximise benefit from procurement practices in the future, sustainable and innovation procurement must be placed at the heart of strategic decision making. 

A sub-plenary session dedicated to the procurement of clean, energy efficient vehicles included an introduction to the Clean Fleets project and shared experiences from Ghent and the London Fire Brigade in introducing clean vehicle technologies into their fleets. DG Move was also present to give an update on the review process for the Clean Vehicles Directive. 

• All presentations are available on the EcoProcura 2014 website

Clean Fleets partner, the City of Stockholm also held a roundtable discussion on the joint procurement of electric vehicles in Sweden (Clean Fleets case study available online).

In addition, EcoProcura saw the first ever Public Procurement of Innovation Award presented. For more information on the award, read the press release.

To read more, click here.

 EV procurement in our Venice of the North, Stockholm 

On 21-22 May, the Clean Fleets team held a workshop in Stockholm looking at expanding charging infrastructure and procurement of electric vehicles as part of a nationwide transport plan. 

Hosted by Clean Fleet’s project partner the City of Stockholm, this event, as part of a series of four European workshops on the procurement of clean and energy-efficient vehicles, covered the following topics:

• Different European municipal strategies for expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure and EV use;
• Experiences with the procurement of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure;
• Exploring the impact of different national frameworks and levels of engagement with governments and the energy sector.

To see the photos & read the presentations, click here

The sole responsibility for the content of this newsletter lies with the Clean Fleets project. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

The Clean Fleets newsletter is produced by the European Secretariat of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. Copyright 2013 ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH, Freiburg, Germany. All rights reserved.