A new application allows hesitant drivers to explore whether their worries about the expenses and battery range of electric vehicles (EVs) hold water. The app utilises driver behaviour tracking to show how much one could save by switching to an EV. SEAI reports suggest that fuel expenditures can be reduced by 50 to 60 per cent for EV owners when compared to traditional fuel vehicles. However, new EV users must be prepared for a rise in their electricity bills, despite the fact that their total energy costs would significantly decrease.
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin have introduced the TRACT EV app, generating personalised data around user driving patterns and the potential benefits of an EV transition, which spans reduced emissions and lower maintenance costs. The app focuses mainly on non-EV users, using GPS and advanced algorithms to monitor driving distances and calculate prospective cost benefits through EV use. The charging locations also play a significant role, especially considering higher prices on motorways.
Prof Brian Caulfield led a team, including experts from diverse fields such as civil engineering, psychology, and computer science, in developing the application. It is available on both Android and Apple platforms, and they aim to onboard 10,000 users for its initial run.
The app is set out to radically transform transportation habits in Ireland, contributing to the fight against climate change. As a part of the TRACT project, principally known as TRAnsport Behaviour Change Trials, it will target several specific groups besides the general public, like individuals without driveways, cab drivers, apartment residents and rural communities to identify factors that would urge them to make the switch.
Rural residents will obtain information on the mileage they could cover without needing to recharge their vehicles. On the other hand, taxi drivers will find battery range data vital to their work routines, Brian mentioned. At the moment, people with a driveway and a home charger can realise the greatest savings, according to Prof Caulfield.
The administration is devoted to minimising emissions from transportation by 50% by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050, with the proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) being a major initiative, albeit sales of EVs have been recently stagnant with a goal of almost a million by the finish of the decade.
Professor Caulfield posits that fuelling users with actionable intelligence and advice, electric vehicle usage could be promoted on a wide scale, championing a more ecologically sustainable future.
The TRACT enterprise, funded by SEAI, is additionally probing the feasibility of communal mobility hubs in partnership with industry forces such as Yuko and BleeperBike. Its objective is to gauge the effects of strategies like shared bikes, cars, active transit methods, and public transportation in terms of lowering emissions and promoting a shift in transport methods, according to Professor Caulfield.