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ECODRIVEN Campaign Catalogue

for European Ecodriving &

Traffic Safety Campaigns

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 2

Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 6

2 ECODRIVEN: A Pan-European Ecodriving Project ...................................................................................... 7

3 The Golden Rules of Ecodriving ................................................................................................................. 8

4 Supporting Evidence for Ecodriving ........................................................................................................... 9

5 Political Imperative .................................................................................................................................. 14

6 Practical Benefits ...................................................................................................................................... 16

7 Ecodriving Campaigns: The Pros & Cons of Different Approaches ......................................................... 19

8 Ecodriving Initiatives ................................................................................................................................ 23

9 Lessons Learned for European Ecodriving & Traffic Safety Campaigns ................................................... 44

10 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................ 49

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Colophon: This campaign catalogue is a deliverable of the ECODRIVEN project,

which was funded by Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE)

Disclaimer: The sole responsibility for the content of this publication lies with the authors. It does not

necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not

responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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Executive Summary This report was written in 2008 ECODRIVEN, a project to promote ecodriving that was supported by the

European Commission Energy Efficiency programme Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE). ECODRIVEN

involved 9 countries and ran from January 2006 to December 2008. This report is intended as a useful

resource for anyone involved with or considering setting up European campaigns aiming to alter

purchasing or driving behaviour for either energy-efficiency (ecodriving) or traffic safety reasons.

The report begins with a summary of the ECODRIVEN project and then summarises the key techniques

that constitute ecodriving. It then moves on to consider the technical explanations behind the

techniques. These include a summary of research from TNO in the Netherlands which concluded that it

is most efficient to change up through the gears at between 2000-2500 rpm and data from the UK

Department for Transport showing speed-consumption curves for different categories of passenger cars.

Explanations are given as to why it is most efficient to remain in gear when decelerating and why

maintaining momentum is such as key part of ecodriving. This chapter also explains the importance of

maintaining correct tyre pressures; why idling should be avoided; why air conditioning can add such a lot

to fuel consumption; and the reasons why roof-racks and carrying unnecessary weight increase fuel

consumption.

Chapter 5 summarises the political reasons for promoting ecodriving and includes discussion the 2006

Energy Services Directive1.

Chapter 6 examines the benefits of ecodriving. The most obvious benefit is lower fuel consumption and

the associated reduction in CO2 emissions, but other key benefits are lower accident rates and reduced

wear and tear on vehicles. This next chapter also presents research from various countries to prove that

ecodriving does indeed reduce fuel consumption.

Chapter 7 draws on ECODRIVEN partners’ experience of running ecodriving campaigns in their home

countries, by analysing the different types of campaign approaches that can be taken and the

advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches. These include on-the-road training,

ecodriving simulators, production and distribution of campaign materials, paid advertising and PR to

encourage media coverage. The report demonstrates that each of these approaches has its place and

tries to give guidance to the reader as to when the various approaches might be most suitable.

The next chapter lists and gives an overview of many of the most successful and interesting projects

undertaken under the auspices of the ECODRIVEN project. This chapter is the heart of the report and is

designed give ideas and inspiration to readers considering beginning their own projects. The project

accounts also include some lessons and pitfalls that readers may wish to avoid. In order to be of most

1 Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on Energy End Use

Efficiency and Energy Services and Repealing Council Directive 93/76/EC

http://www.energy.eu/directives/l_11420060427en00640085.pdf

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use to the reader with a limited budget looking for campaign ideas, these projects have been grouped

together and presented in terms of the level of financial investment that they require.

The report then moves on to consider the lessons learned from the project and finally to its conclusions.

These include that the ECODRIVEN project made a real difference to promoting ecodriving in its partner

countries; and that ecodriving is a concept that perfectly addresses global concerns about greenhouse

gas emissions, rising fuel prices and energy security and that as such ecodriving is set to become even

more widely known and accepted.

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1 Introduction This catalogue is intended as a useful resource for anyone involved with or considering setting up

European campaigns aiming to alter purchasing or driving behaviour for either energy-efficiency

(ecodriving) or traffic safety reasons.

One of the central tenets of the ECODRIVEN project has been international cooperation to share

ecodriving knowledge and experience: good initiatives have been emulated, good ideas have been

shared, and hopefully a few pitfalls and mistakes have been avoided. This catalogue now seeks to take

the cooperation a stage further by inviting other partners and other countries to benefit from our

experiences and to use and replicate any ideas that seem appropriate.

Ecodriving brings environmental, financial and safety benefits at zero or low cost. It is therefore no

surprise that ecodriving is an increasingly popular concept that is well-received by a wide range of

stakeholders: policy makers like ecodriving as it contributes to environmental and safety targets;

companies like the cost savings as well as the PR opportunities; private individuals like the cost savings

and the more relaxed and safer style of driving; and vehicle manufacturers appreciate the recognition

that it’s not just about technologies and that their vehicles can achieve the official fuel consumption

results if driven well. Even fuel suppliers are pro-ecodriving - despite the fact that they stand to sell less

of their product as a result of it – because they recognise the wider political benefits of their

involvement with initiatives that mitigate environmental damage and help their customers cope with

high fuel prices. Moreover ecodriving supports them to meet the targets of the EU Energy Services

Directive (ESD) in supporting their clients to achieve energy-efficiency improvements.

The catalogue makes the case for ecodriving from technical, political and practical perspectives. It

considers the evidence to support the claims and it then gives many inspiring examples of successful

European ecodriving initiatives. In order to make the catalogue most useful to anyone considering

initiating a campaign, these projects have been arranged according to the level of investment they

require.

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2 ECODRIVEN: A Pan-European Ecodriving Project ECODRIVEN (European Campaign On improving DRIVing behaviour, ENergy-efficiency an traffic safety)

concerns a synchronised European-wide ecodriving campaign aiming at drivers of passenger cars,

delivery vans, lorries and buses. ECODRIVEN was conducted in the framework of Intelligent Energy

Europe2

The ECODRIVEN campaign ran from January 2006 until December 2008. The campaign was based on a

bottom-up approach through European-wide local and regional collaborations. ECODRIVEN covered 9

EU countries: The united Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Austria, Poland, the

Czech Republic and Greece.

ECODRIVEN has collaborated with Ford of Europe, BP, FIA, ACEA, the German Road Safety Council DVR,

EFA, Leaseplan and GE Capital Solutions.

Within ECODRIVEN licensed drivers in all vehicle categories have been regularly presented with

ecodriving activities within their familiar social environment. This has engaged them to reflect on and

optimise their driving behaviour in a safe and energy-efficient way. Under the umbrella of ECODRIVEN

country-specific campaign activities have taken place which took into consideration cultural differences

and differences in the state of play regarding ecodriving. You will find some of these good practices in

this Campaign Catalogue. Especially the composition of the consortium ranging from low to high

experienced countries regarding ecodriving turned out to be informative and engaging. Participating

countries which had no or only little experience in ecodriving emerged with very fine good practices

beyond initial expectations.

ECODRIVEN has really moved something and in the 9 participating EU countries: Over 20 million

licensed drivers have been conveyed the ecodriving message and its benefits for both them as an

individual and for society. ECODRIVEN has resulted in a 1 Mton CO2 emission avoidance between 2006

and 20103. Furthermore ECODRIVEN has established a vast network of ecodriving contacts wich can be

deployed in future ecodriving and traffic safety campaigns.

ECODRIVEN has produced several ready-to-hand and tailor-made deliverables. One of them is this

Campaign Catalogue.

Further information about ECODRIVEN can be found on the website www.ecodrive.org

2 http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/

3 This solely concerns the impact of ECODRIVEN. The result has been corrected for possible overlap with other national

ecodriving activities.

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3 The Golden Rules of Ecodriving Vehicle engines have changed dramatically in recent decades and air quality emissions regulations in

particular have been greatly tightened. Modern cars have also become more fuel efficient (and

therefore produce less CO2) but in practice few drivers operate their vehicles in such as way as to

achieve the official fuel consumption figures. By adopting ecodriving techniques most drivers should be

able to achieve, or at least get close to, these official fuel consumption figures.

The golden rules of ecodriving are:

1. When accelerating, change up to a higher gear between 2000 and 2500 rpm. Changing up the

gears at these relatively low revs reduces fuel consumption because an engine’s internal friction

increases with engine speed.

2. Maintain a steady speed using the highest gear possible and driving with low engine RPM

3. Anticipate the road and traffic flow as far ahead as possible to avoid unnecessary acceleration

and braking

4. When decelerating, driving downhill or stopping, remain in gear but to step off the accelerator

as early as possible, for example when approaching a red light or a roundabout.

5. Avoid high speeds since above 80 or 90 km/h fuel consumption increases greatly.

6. Check tyre pressures regularly as underinflated tyres add to fuel consumption.

7. Use air conditioning sparingly as long as this does not necessitate opening a window at high

speed.

8. Switch the engine off if you’re going to be stationary for more than a minute or so.

9. Remove roof racks, bike racks etc when not in use

10. Avoid carrying unnecessary weight.

The efforts of car manufacturers and their interest in getting involved in ecodriving campaigns illustrate

that that ecodriving is actually technology based. The involvement of car manufacturers and the

European associations of car manufacturers ACEA and touring clubs FIA also wipes the floor with

prejudices like ecodriving might be bad for the engine and ecodriving might be slow and no fun. The

opposite proves to be true.

For futher technical background information please read the ecodriving manual produced in the EU

project TREATISE or the instruction manual of any car manufactured from approximately 1990, or see

website www.ecodrive.org

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4 Supporting Evidence for Ecodriving The technical explanations and evidence to support the ecodriving advice comes from various sources.

Use of Gears when accelerating

The Dutch research centre TNO released a key report4 in 2006 assessing various strategies to reduce

emissions. Regarding use of gears and acceleration strategies, the report compared three different

combinations of engine speed at gear change, and throttle position:

1. High engine speed (3000 diesel; 3500 petrol) and moderate (50%) throttle position

2. Low engine speed (2000 diesel; 2500 petrol) and moderate (50%) throttle position

3. Low engine speed (2000 diesel; 2500 petrol) and deep (90%) throttle position

For both petrol and diesel cars option 2 (low engine speed, moderate throttle position) was the most

efficient.

However driving at too low revs leads to high NOx emissions from diesel engines and for this reason the

advice with respect to gears was modified slightly to that there is no longer a distinction between

recommended engine speeds for petrol and diesel engines: The advice for both is to change up between

2000 and 2500 rpm.

Speed

There are various studies of the effect of vehicle speed on fuel consumption including research by the

UK Department for Transport from which speed-CO2 curves were developed for different categories of

cars according to their Euro standard, engine size and fuel type. (CO2 is proportional to fuel

consumption so the trends shown by these curves can also be read as the relationship between speed

and fuel consumption. )

4 “The Effects of a Range of Measures to Reduce the Tailpipe Emissions &/or the Fuel Consumption of Modern

Passenger Cars on Petrol and Diesel”, TNO, Netherlands, 2006

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The graphs for Euro IV vehicles are shown below. These show that the most efficient speed for Euro IV

petrol cars to be around 70-80 km/h and for Euro IV diesels to be 60-70 km/h.

Variation of CO2 Emissions with Velocity for Euro IV Petrol Vehicles

120

140

160

180

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160

Velocity (Km/h)

CO2 Emission Factor (g/km)

Euro IV Petrol <1,400cc Euro IV Petrol 1,400cc - 2,010cc Euro IV Petrol >2,010cc

Variation of CO2 Emissions with Velocity for Euro IV Diesel Vehicles

120

130

140

150

160

170

180

190

200

210

220

230

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160

Velocity (Km/h)

CO2 Emission Factor (g/km)

Euro IV Diesel <2,010cc Euro IV Diesel >2,010cc

The 2006 TNO report quote previously also considered the effect of speed by comparing cars’ fuel

consumption at 100 km/h and 80 km/h. For Euro IV vehicles in free flowing traffic remaining in top gear,

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petrol cars’ CO2 emissions (and therefore fuel consumption) were 21% lower at 80 km/h than at

100km/h and diesel cars’ were 25.5% lower.

Maintaining Momentum

Newton’s Second Law of Motion states that ‘Force = Mass x Acceleration’, which is the key to

understanding why greater anticipation can have such a marked effect on reducing fuel consumption,

particularly in urban driving. This equation tells us that a body will remain at rest, or if moving will

remain at constant speed, unless net unbalanced forces act upon it. In an idealised situation, therefore,

no energy of fuel would be required to keep a vehicle moving at constant speed, only to accelerate it or

to drive uphill. In practice of course a vehicle must also overcome air resistance and friction so fuel is

required to keep moving at constant speed, but nevertheless this principle explains why avoiding

unnecessary acceleration and braking greatly reduces fuel consumption.

Decelerating

When decelerating or driving down hill with a gear engaged but no throttle applied, a modern engine is

‘intelligent’ enough to know that the engine is being driven by the car’s momentum and that it can

switch off fuel supply to the engine. Under these conditions an engine uses virtually no fuel, whereas if

the car had been coasting in neutral as it decelerated more fuel would have had to have been burned to

keep the engine running.

Tyre Pressures

Tyre underinflated by 25% increase rolling resistance by approximately 10% and fuel consumption by

approximately 2%5

5 “Rapportage Steekproef Bandenspanning”, R.J.M. Dumoulin, , 1997; and also

“Hou de spanning erin! Onderzoek naar de bandenspanning en profieldiepte”, DTV Consultants, 1998

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Idling

There is very little fuel consumption (or CO2) penalty when restarting a modern engine if the accelerator

pedal is not pressed. In fact the 2006 TNO report concluded that even turning an engine off for just 10-

20 seconds would lead to net benefits since the CO2 emissions avoided (& fuel saved) would be greater

than the restart penalty. For reasons of communication and comprehension it was decided to stick to

the previously communicated 1 minute recommendation/tip concerning idling.

Air Conditioning

Research by ADEME6 in France found that for typical mixed use over a 12 month period (i.e. all 4

seasons) a car with air conditioning (a/c) would on average use around 5% more fuel than the same car

without a/c. The research also tested 20 common cars over the New European Drive Cycle and found

that cars with their a/c working at maximum output for the entire cycle consumed approximately 25%

more fuel than the same cars with their a/c turned off.

However, at high speeds - typically over 90 or 100 km/h - opening a window is likely to cause a greater

increase in fuel consumption due to increased air resistance. The advice therefore is to use a/c sparingly

as long as this doesn’t require opening a window at high speed.

6 “Automobile Air-Conditioning – Its Energyand Environmnetal Impact” ADEME, 2003

http://www.ademe.fr/anglais/publication/pdf/clim_auto_gb.pdf

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Roof Racks

Manufacturers go to great lengths to make their vehicles aerodynamic so it is no surprise that large

items such as roof racks, roof boxes and bike carriers play havoc with the manufacturers’ careful designs

and greatly increase fuel consumption at medium to high speeds7 A Dutch study in 20058 found that at

100km/h a ski box added 21-23% to fuel consumption and a laden bike rack added 26-29%.

Extra weight

Referring again to the fundamental laws of physics we know the force required to accelerate or to lift an

object is proportional to its mass. This explains why carrying unnecessary weight in a vehicle will add to

its fuel consumption. The effect of extra weight would tend to be much greater around town, where a

high proportion of the fuel is used to accelerate the vehicles than on the highway, where the majority of

fuel is burn to overcome air resistance, which is unaffected by mass.

7 At low speeds air resistance (drag) is low, so items such as roof racks incur little penalty

8 “Extra brandstofverbruik door gebruik van accessoires in personenauto’s”, TNO Industrie en Techniek, 2005

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5 Political Imperative Road transport accounts for approximately 20% of EU CO2 emissions9, which means ecodriving has an

important role to play in helping the EU achieve its target of a 20% reduction in CO2 by 2020.

There are also energy security and geopolitical reasons why the EU, which is a net importer of oil, wishes

to reduce its oil dependency. Reducing fuel consumption and the demand for oil would leave the EU

less dependent on oil imports and would help member states’ balance of payments accounts by

reducing spending on imported oil.

An agreement was reached between car manufacturers and the EC in December 2008 and is likely to be

implemented in 2009 that will oblige car manufacturers to lower average new car CO2 emissions to

130g/km by 2012-15 or face financial penalties. But ecodriving also has an important part to play, not

least because ecodriving could immediately reduce emissions from all vehicles and drivers not just from

new vehicles.

The EC legislation referred to above also requires cars to achieve an additional 10g/km average

reduction in fuel consumption through ‘complimentary measures’, which could include devices to

encourage ecodriving such as gear-shift indicators, tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and low

energy tyres.

The unprecedented global oil price of nearly $150 per barrel in late summer 2008 saw some politicians

promoting ecodriving as a means for consumers to cope with rising prices, particularly as higher fuel

prices tend to have a disproportionally large effect on poorer people. In the UK, for example, politicians

from all three main political parties were keen to be involved with ECODRIVEN campaign activities

during this time, whereas previously political support had been lacking10.

The European car manufacturers and motoring clubs made clear their support for ecodriving in a joint

letter of support sent by their respective trade bodies ACEA and FIA to the EC in December 2006. The

letter highlighted the importance of “helping motorists increase the energy efficiency of their cars by

offering fuel-efficient driving courses” and discussed how technological innovations, infrastructure

improvement....and behaviour change” all hard their part to play.

9 http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/climatechange/euemistrascheme?page=1

10 Transport ministers or shadow ministers from Labour, Conservative & Liberal Democratic parties participated in EST Smarter

Driving Competition, July 2008

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Energy Services Directive

The EC Directive on Energy End Use Efficiency and Energy Services (known as the Energy Services

Directive or ESD), obliges transport fuel suppliers (and other energy suppliers) to make plans “for the

provision and promotion of energy services, or to ensure the availability of energy audits and energy

efficiency improvement measures, or to contribute to a fund”. Member States had a deadline of 17th

May 2008 to give the EU a clear indication of how they would implement the directive11.

Promoting ecodriving initiatives is one way in which oil companies can fulfil their obligations under the

ESD, so we may yet see that this legislation provides quite a push towards ecodriving.

11

Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on Energy End Use

Efficiency and Energy Services and Repealing Council Directive 93/76/EC. (Article 18 specifies the timescales by

which Member States must transpose the legislation to national law)

http://www.energy.eu/directives/l_11420060427en00640085.pdf

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6 Practical Benefits

CO2 & Fuel Consumption Savings

The main argument in favour of ecodriving is simple yet powerful: the techniques significantly reduce

CO2 emissions and fuel consumption and for the individual they cost nothing to adopt. In fact for the

driver ecodriving is a negative cost measure since it brings financial savings. Promotion activities and

(governmental) programmes of course cost money but the value for money, the cost-effectiveness is

always very favourable. We should remember this when comparing ecodriving against other CO2

abatement policies and technologies, most of which cost money to implement.

For a given fuel, a reduction in fuel consumption will give an identical reduction in CO2 emissions so the

financial and environmental benefits will always go hand-in-hand. The extent of the savings depends on

many things - not least how a driver drove in the first place – but as shown in the previous chapter the

savings immediately post-training are often in the region of 15-20% with long-term savings after training

of approximately 10%.

Numerous studies have been repeated across Europe to assess the extent of savings from ecodriving.

The first 5 studies below all follow a similar format, pioneered by Ford of Europe and the German Traffic

Safety Board (DVR), in which drivers complete a given circuit twice: once before and once after a short

duration ecodriving lesson. The two circuits are compared and the percentage reduction in fuel

consumption is calculated.

1. Germany 2007. At the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007 Ford and DVR trained 765 drivers and saw an

average 20.7% reduction in fuel consumption.

In addition to the data above, Ford also has data showing an average of 10% long term savings. These

data on the long-term savings are not publicly available but has been verified and validated by DVR.

2. UK 2008. In summer 2008 the Energy Saving Trust and Ford trained 494 car drivers and saw average

fuel consumption reduction of 22.5% on a mixture of public and private roads. For the drivers

whose training took place on public roads, the average reduction was 16.8%. Average speed was

also slightly faster after ecodriving tuition.

The chart below shows drivers’ miles per gallon (fuel consumption) before and after tuition and

demonstrates that virtually all drivers were able to reduce their fuel consumption after tuition.

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3. Finland 2008. From March- September 2008, Motiva with its ecodriving network trained 101 drivers

as part of its Easy, Rider! campaign and saw an average reduction in fuel consumption of 14%.

4. Austria. In 2007, a long running study in Austria involved more than 1700 bus drivers and saw an

average reduction in fuel consumption of 10.5% after ecodriving lessons. Average speeds were also

slightly faster.

5. Greece 2008. A recent study in Greece covered passenger cars, trucks and trolley buses. For car

drivers the average reduction in fuel consumption after tuition was 15.9%; for truck drivers 14.7%;

and for trolley bus drivers approximately 25%.

6. Netherlands 1990-1998. The Netherlands have experience with ecodriving driver training courses

since 1990. Many companies and organisations have trained their employees since. The results

show that: on an indivial level fuel savings can increase up to 50% and on a fleet level the fuel

savings vary from 5-10%, depending on the kind and number of supportive actions taken by the

management. On the long run fuel savings at fleet level erode to half of the short run savings. Some

indivuals however even improve their fuel savings on the long run due to getting more skilled in

using the feedback information of in-car gauges

7. Switzerland, 2000. Research by the Swissenergy programme funded by the Swiss Federal Office for

Energy in 2000 indicates long term savings from ecodriving of approximately 10%12.

Safety Benefits

The other major benefit of ecodriving is the reduction in accident rates that usually accompanies the

fuel and CO2 savings. Indeed the ‘safety’ and the ‘environment’ messages are often jointly marketed, for

example in the UK’s “Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving” (SAFED) campaign for trucks and vans and in the

long running Dutch campaign “Het Nieuwe Rijden”.

12

“Evaluation of Eco-Drive Courses”, Swissenergy, Federal Office of Energy, Berne, 2000.

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The safety benefits derive particularly from the emphasis on greater anticipation of the road ahead and

from the advice to avoid excessive speed. In more general terms ecodriving encourages a calmer and

less stressful driving experience, which also contributes to lower accident rates.

An example of how ecodriving can reduce accident rates is provided in a case study of the Hamburg

water utility. “Hamburger Wasserwerke” monitored the frequency of insurance claims before and after

the introduction of an ecodriving programme that trained 91 drivers and reported a 22% decrease in

insurance claims13. Another example is Canon, Switzerland, who reported a 35% reduction in accident

rates after ecodriving training.

A 5-years study in the Netherlands found that transport companies that had introduced ecodriving

measures had 14% lower accident rates than companies that had not14.

Other Financial Savings

Ecodriving can also lead to additional financial savings due to the reduced servicing, maintenance and

repair costs that result from reduced wear and tear on various components such as brakes, tyres, clutch

and the engine itself. For vehicles with variable service intervals the savings are greater still since

ecodriving techniques are likely to mean vehicles require servicing less frequently.

Potential for Immediate Impact

Ecodriving techniques could – in theory at least – be adopted by all drivers virtually overnight, although

in practice encouraging such behavioural change is a slow process. This gives ecodriving an advantage

over policies to encourage the sale of cleaner vehicles, since the latter would only affect new vehicles.

New cleaner vehicles would also of course have to be driven in an ecodriving style to deliver their full

benefits. The average age of cars in the EU is just over seven years15, so it is clear that even the most

successful policy that affects only new vehicles would take many years to exert its full effect.

The Drawbacks?

There are no significant drawbacks to ecodriving, except perhaps for the boy-racer that misses the thrill

of fast speed and acceleration.

One of the misconceptions about ecodriving is that it increases journey times, but studies have

repeatedly shown that this is generally not the case. In fact several studies, including the Austrian,

Greek and UK examples presented above, all show faster average speeds after ecodriving tuition.

Another misconception is that ecodriving might be bad for the engine or that the engine gets lazy. This

might have been the case with vehicles manufactured before the 1982 but is certainly not the case

since. That is why car manufacturers and their European association ACEA now embrace ecodriving.

13

EC TREATISE Project, Ecodriving Manual http://www.treatise.eu.com/downloads-uk.html 14

“Effectmeting Van Het Nieuwe Rijden”, NEA Transportonderzoek en –opleiding, 2005 1515

http://themes.eea.europa.eu/Sectors_and_activities/transport/indicators/TERM33,2002

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7 Ecodriving Campaigns: The Pros & Cons of Different Approaches

There are many different ways to promote ecodriving, each with their own advantages and

disadvantages. The right approach - or combination of approaches - to use will depend on many factors

including political support, the existing level of awareness of ecodriving, the budget available, existing

ecodriving activities, the type of organisation leading the campaign and the nature of any other partners

interested in joining the campaign.

To take a few examples: If the concept of ecodriving is relatively new or unknown then it may be most

appropriate to engage in activities to spread general awareness of the concept rather than begin one-to-

one driver training. If a fuel company is willing to partner in a campaign then the very high volume of

drivers passing through their premises might mean that free materials or forecourt advertising is the

best option. For a Government department wishing to promote ecodriving the natural focus might be

public information style national advertising. If a tyre company is involved then a natural focus will be

on tyre pressure and if a driving school can be persuaded to participate then the natural focus will be

on-road training.

Some of the key approaches are categorised and discussed below.

On-Road Driver Training

The most effective way to teach a driver the skills of ecodriving is to get him or her behind the wheel for

an on-road driving lesson. This is partly because drivers are often sceptical about ecodriving campaigns

as they think they already practice the techniques being promoted, but is primarily because driving is a

practical skill and as such it can be improved more through tuition and guided practice rather than

simply information.

In many countries the traditional model for fleet drivers is half or full day courses. These are very

effective but they are too expensive – in terms of time as well as money – for the mass market,

especially because people tend not to pay for something they feel they are doing well. So the numbers

taking such courses tend to be fairly small. Even in the most enlightened of fleets it is generally only the

worst performing drivers that are sent on full day ecodriving courses.

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Another alternative that has proven very effective in many countries is for short-duration ecodriving

courses, the so-called ‘snack training’ a concept pioneered by Ford of Europe and the German Road

Safety Council. Research has repeatedly shown that even lessons as short as an hour or less can be

extremely effective in teaching the drivers the most efficient driving style tips. For example, in the EST-

Ford study of nearly 500 drivers summarised in Chapter X of this report, lessons of this duration led to

average fuel savings of 22.5%. Such short-duration lessons are generally far more cost-effective since

one instructor can teach perhaps 7 or 8 drivers in a day.

A Government funded programme to provide short-duration ecodriving lessons was launched in the UK

in November 2008 based on the proven effectiveness of ecodriving lessons lasting less than an hour.

The programme is organised in conjunction with employers and has targets that require each instructor

to train an average of seven drivers per day. The partnership with employers is not because the

programme seeks to train fleet drivers but is just a convenient way to reach a large number of drivers at

one location.

However, even short-duration lessons will still be relatively expensive per person reached, so if the aim

is to reach a really high volume of drivers then other or complimentary approaches might be more

appropriate.

Ecodriving Simulators

Ecodriving simulators bring many of the advantages of on-road training but at a much lower cost and in

a fun and accessible format that can be set up and run virtually anywhere, from shopping centres to

conferences to classrooms. A good simulator will have pedals, a steering wheel and a gear stick and a

large screen with realistic graphics. The simulators themselves analyse driving style and give the driver

feedback and advice about how to drive more efficiently. An additional advantage is the use of

standardised tracks for reasons of comparison. They also act as a point of interest, perhaps attracting

passers-by to a stand or a stall, which can then be engaged in conversation or recruited for other

ecodriving activities.

Ecodriving simulators vary greatly in complexity and cost. At one end of the scale (low cost simulators) a

CD ROM can be purchased for around 30 euros and installed on a standard modern PC in conjunction

with a gaming steering wheel and pedal set costing around 50 euros. These systems are cost-effective

and can be an excellent way to engage with an audience and to convey the key ecodriving messages. An

excellent low cost simulator of this type can be ordered from either the ECODRIVEN16 or TREATISE

websites17. At the other end of the spectrum (high-end simulators) a really advanced system will not

only have a large screen or screens and good sound system but will have a seat and control environment

resembling an actual vehicle’s and might even be mounted on a hydraulic system that moves in

response to the driver’s actions.

16

www.ecodrive.org 17

www.treatise.eu.com

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Promotional Materials

Within the ECODRIVEN project a huge variety of ecodriving promotional material has been produced

including posters, fliers, key rings, air-fresheners, econometers to help calculate fuel consumption, tyre

pressure gauges, pens and USB memory sticks and DVDs. Some of the materials, such as the tyre

pressure gauges and the econometers have a specific purpose related to ecodriving, but in all cases the

materials share a common purpose of raising awareness of ecodriving, keeping the subject live in

people’s minds, and very often directing users to a website for more in-depth information.

Most of these materials can be bought at low unit costs and are an effective means of promoting the

general concepts and raising or maintaining awareness of ecodriving. Effective distribution channels are

important, so a good solution might be to team up with an industry partner such as a fuel company, a

tyre company or a major retailer that is prepared to distribute the materials in-store.

One of the advantages of promotional materials is that they are scalable to suit virtually any budget or

objective, from a few hundred units for a specific localised campaign up to hundreds of thousands of

units for a national campaign.

Advertising & Mass Media Campaigns

Advertising can be a very effective means of promoting ecodriving as it can be of virtually any other

product. An excellent example of an ecodriving advertising campaign is the long running Dutch Het

Nieuwe Rijden campaign, which uses humour based on a send-up of the 80s TV Show the Dukes of

Hazzard to promote a series of ecodriving messages. The campaign has produced a series of TV adverts,

which have been running for many years and were still running in 2008.

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Radio advertising presents an interesting opportunity for an ecodriving campaign as slots can be booked

to coincide with the morning and/or evening rush-hour period when many listeners will be driving. Bus

advertising presents another possibility for advertising targeted at drivers. In the UK, for example,

Transport for London ran a campaign in 2007 and 2008 that included a series of ecodriving messages on

the backs of buses, which were specifically designed to be seen by drivers following the buses.

The cost of advertising means it is generally only appropriate for campaigns with a fairly large budget.

Good radio and TV adverts in particular are expensive to produce even before any media time is

purchased, which means they are not a form that can easily be scaled down for a smaller budget.

Nevertheless, if the budget allows for quality radio and TV adverts, they are in general cost-effective, as

demonstrated by the Dutch national ecodriving programme Het Nieuwe Rijden.

PR

A good public relations campaign can bring some of the advantages of advertising at a fraction of the

cost by encouraging journalists to write about or report on ecodriving activities. PR and advertising are

however mostly complementary. Remember that ecodriving addresses two subjects that are right at

the top of the news agenda - climate change and fuel costs – so a well-judged campaign may well be

pushing at an open door. As with any PR campaign a good ‘news hook’ will usually be required for a

story to be picked up but this might, for example, be the winner of an ecodriving competition, the

results of a survey, or simply the launch of a campaign.

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8 Ecodriving Initiatives This chapter gives examples of activities and initiatives undertaken as part of the wider ECODRIVEN

project. It is hoped that these examples will give the reader ideas and inspiration. The activities are

arranged according to the level of investment that they required.

Low Investment Ecodriving Activities

Examples of low investment ecodriving activities that can be undertaken on a low budget include the

following.

Second Phase Driving Course in Driving School Curriculum

Country: Finland

Target group: Novice drivers

Size of target group: 60 000 – 80 000 per year

Dates/duration: Since 1998 & ongoing

Budget: Included in the driving school curriculum, no extra cost for the driving school trainee

Partner organisations: Driving schools; Examination offices; Vehicle Administration Office

Contact: Sakari Hopia, Euro Driver O: sakari.hopia@eurodriver.fi

Vesa Peltola, Motiva: vesa.peltola@motiva.fi

Website: Driving schools, Examination offices and Vehicle Administration Office

Every course participant pays for his/her own course.

The project began in the year 1997-1998 when approximately 1000 driving instructors were trained to

deliver ecodriving lessons as part of the first- and the second phases of driver training. The first phase

enables the driver to get a temporary license and then two years later the second phase enables him or

her to get a permanent licence. Since then approximately 60 000 to 80 000 new drivers per hear have

learned ecodriving as part of their first phase courses and approximately the same number as part of

second phase courses. These numbers mean that virtually all new drivers in Finland are taught

ecodriving from professionally qualified instructors.

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The driver training being in two parts works well because it allows instructors to explain ecodriving in

more depth the second time around.

Over the ten years that this project has been running, over half a million new drivers have been taught

to drive more efficiently. After the second phase training drivers can typically reduce their fuel

consumption by 10-15%.

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Tyre Pressure Campaign

Country: Belgium.

Target group: Politicians; Consumers / individuals; Company car drivers; Van drivers

Size of target group: 600 (direct); 500 000 (via media)

Dates/duration: September 2007; and June 2008

Budget: 5000 EUR

Partner organisations: Michelin Benelux; BBL (Flemish Federation of Environmental NGOs).

Contact: Mr. Wouter Florizoone: wouter.florizoone@bblv.be

Website: www.eco-driving.be (BBL)

www.check-je-bandenspanning.be (Michelin)

For two days in September 2007 and three days in June 2008, Bond Beter Leefmilieu and Michelin

organised a tyre pressure campaign at a service station on one of the Belgium’s busiest roads, the

motorway between Antwerp and Brussels. People who had stopped at the service station were offered

a free tyre pressure check and where necessary tyres were inflated to the correct pressure. The event

was also repeated in June 2008 for all the company cars at the Toyota Parts Centre Europe in Diest.

In total 600 cars were checked and the feedback from ‘customers’ was very positive. The actions also

received considerable media attention on TV and radio.

The results were interesting: In September 2007 62% of cars tested had dangerously underinflated tyres

(defined as 0,5 bar or more below recommended pressure) but in June 2008 the figure was only 35%.

Michelin and BBL both consider the campaign to have been a great success and therefore plan to repeat

it in 2009 but targeted at trucks.

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Fleet Driver Training

Country: Poland

Target group: Fleet managers; Company car drivers; Van drivers.

Size of target group: Total of 380 fleet managers

Dates/duration: Three one-day meetings

Budget: Not applicable

Partner organisations: Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Infrastructure

(sponsor); Toyota Poland (sponsor); LeasePlan Poland (sponsor); Polish

Automobile & Motorcycle Federation; Smart Driving (a professional training

company.)

Contact: Urszula Ajersz, uajersz@kape.gov.pl; Maria Osińska, mosinska@kape.gov.pl

Website: www.kape.gov.pl/projekty/ECODRIVEN

KAPE begun the Polish ECODRIVEN campaign with LeasePlan Poland as a partner and sponsor. This co-

operation with a well-known car fleet management company afforded credibility to the project and

helped to give fleet managers confidence in the subject.

KAPE found contact with fleet management associations to be a useful way of promoting the relatively

unknown concept of ecodriving. For example, at the Fleet Management Institute for Central-Eastern

Europe in 2006, KAPE presented ECODRIVEN to 60 fleet managers from some of the biggest

organisations in Poland. KAPE also had the opportunity to present ECODRIVEN at one of the largest

Polish conferences for fleet managers, with 300 participants.

One of the first Polish companies to be trained by ECODRIVEN was a concrete company called Lyreco

Poland, which has a fleet of 600 vehicles. The first training on eco-driving techniques started for the

heads of RDCs (Regional Distribution Centers). The next step was to train RDC employees (80 persons

trained). The QSE Manager also presented the rules of ecodriving to LYRECO’s management. LYRECO

decided to train all new employees including sales managers to ecodrive. From March 2008 to

November 2008 LYRECO trained 100 employees. Next the sales managers were trained. LYRECO plans

to reduce fuel consumption by 3-5% each year.(ca 25.000-28.000 EURO reduction of costs).

The QSE Manager at Lyreco was extremely supportive of the initiative which proved a great help. To

date, 100 of Lyreco’s car and van drivers have received on-road training and the company intends to

continue and extend the training. Lyreco have also offered to cooperate in producing a case study of

their experiences that KAPE can then present at fleet manager conferences.

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There are many fleet management conferences in Poland and these are a very useful forum at which to

spread the ecodriving message. It is important to present the subject as having both financial and

environmental benefits.

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Driving Instructor Training

Country: Poland

Target group: Driving instructors

Size of target group: 45 instructors trained

Dates/duration: Three one-day training sessions

Budget: Not applicable

Partner organisations: Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Infrastructure

(sponsor); Toyota Poland (sponsor); LeasePlan Poland (sponsor); Polish

Automobile & Motorcycle Federation; Smart Driving (a professional training

company.)

Contact: Urszula Ajersz, uajersz@kape.gov.pl; Maria Osińska, mosinska@kape.gov.pl

Website: www.kape.gov.pl/projekty/ECODRIVEN

ECODRIVEN is the first nationwide project to promote ecodriving in Poland. The subject is relatively new

and there are few eco-driving instructors. KAPE wanted to “infect” instructors with the idea of

ecodriving and to create a network of well-trained specialists in ecodriving techniques.

Three one-day driving instructor “train-the-trainer” sessions were organised in different Polish towns. In

total 45 instructors were trained. The programme of training included both theoretical and practical

tuition. After the theory training participants received a set of promotional materials to distribute

among their driving school students.

In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the techniques it was important to plan good routes for the

ecodriving practical lessons and to avoid the worst of the rush hours. Whilst waiting for their turn to

drive participants watched an ecodriving DVD. This created a good atmosphere and an opportunity for

instructors to discuss ecodriving and exchange ideas and experience. In the end all instructors received

certificates prepared by KAPE.

There was a good response from instructors, the majority of whom expressed a desire to begin

ecodriving courses at their driving schools.

An important factor in the success of these trainings was the involvement of the Polish Automobile &

Motorcycle Federation and of the Training Center of National Defense League which helped KAPE with

logistical and organisational issues in Cracow.

There was no media attention due to the small scale of the activity.

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Ecodriving for Learner Drivers & the Ecodriving Charter for Driving Schools

Country: Belgium

Target group: Politicians; Consumers / individuals; Learner drivers; Driving schools; Driving

examiners

Size of target group: 60 000 young people (year 1)

Dates/duration: January – August 2008

Budget: 15 000 EUR

Partner organisations: Belgian Ministry of Transport; Federation of examination centres (GOCA);

Association of driving schools (Federdrive); Flemish foundation of traffic

knowledge (FFT-VSV); Walloon federation for environmental NGO’s (IEW);

Flemish Federation for Environmental NGO’s (BBL)

Contact: Mr. Wouter Florizoone: wouter.florizoone@bblv.be

Website: www.eco-driving.be

This campaign involved ecodriving training for existing driving instructors and examiners. The campaign

was a great success, training 400 instructors and 200 examiners. These instructors will in turn have

taught ecodriving to 60 000 learner drivers during year 1.

There was considerable media attention on TV, radio and in several newspapers. The presence of the

Belgian federal minister of mobility, Yves Leterme at the launch press conference helped secure this

media interest.

The campaign also brought ecodriving to wider political attention. In May and June 2008 the Belgian

federal government organised various roundtable discussions with stakeholders from the

administration, industry and non-profit organisations to discuss transport and environmental issues.

One of the conclusions from these discussions was a broad consensus in favour of including ecodriving

as a compulsory topic in new driver training and examinations.

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National Ecodriving Competition

Country: United Kingdom

Target group: All drivers

Size of target group: 25 million drivers in UK; 500 competition places

Dates/duration: July and August 2008

Budget: 20 000 EUR (Plus a greater amount from Ford of Britain)

Partner organisations: Energy Saving Trust; Ford of Britain; Ford of Europe; German Road Safety

Council (DVR).

Contact: Bob Saynor, Energy Saving Trust. bob.saynor@est.org.uk

Website: www.est.org.uk/ecodrive

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) learned from other ECODRIVEN partners, notably Ford of Europe, that

short-duration one-to-one lessons can be a very cost-effective way to promote ecodriving. This idea had

an immediate appeal because the only existing fuel economy driver training in the UK was based on the

idea of half or full day lessons, which are too expensive – in time as well as money – for the mass

market.

The Energy Saving Trust therefore approached Ford of Britain in 2007 to suggest the two organisations

ran a joint campaign with two aims:

• Promoting ecodriving to consumers in the UK

• Testing the effectiveness of short-duration ecodriving lessons

The result was the “Ford - Energy Saving Trust Smart Driving Challenge”, a jointly branded national

competition to find the UK’s most efficient driver, which took place in July and August 2008. The

Challenge was held over thirteen days at the British Motor Show in London and at five regional

locations. Drivers competed for a total of £20,000 of Energy Saving Recommended products provided

by Ford.

To ensure that the Challenge benefited from existing European experience, two senior driving

instructors and the EST project manager travelled to Cologne a month before the competition began for

a workshop organised jointly by Ford of Europe and the German Road Safety Council (DVR). This was an

extremely useful day that helped the UK instructors fine-tune their ecodriving skills. These two

instructors then returned to the UK and ran additional train-the-trainer sessions to cascade the

knowledge to all 10 instructors that had been selected to work on the Challenge.

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At the regional events each competitor spent an hour with an instructor and drove a set circuit on public

roads three times: once in their normal driving style; once under instruction; and then a final

‘competition’ lap without instruction but incorporating the new techniques. The Motor Show circuit

was held on private roads and was shorter so participants only required 30 minutes for their three laps.

The competition was based solely on the fuel consumption of the third lap, but from a research

perspective the most interesting result is the comparison of drivers’ fuel consumption before and after

tuition.

Six Members of Parliament took part in the Challenge, including ministers or shadow ministers from all

three major political parties.

494 drivers participated in the Challenge and achieved an average 22.5% reduction in fuel consumption

after tuition. Furthermore, drivers’ average speed was slightly higher after tuition, dispelling a common

myth that smarter driving means slower driving.

Number of

Drivers

Av. Decrease Fuel

Consumption

Av Change in

Speed /MPH

Regional Events 112 16.8% 0.0 Motor Show 384 24.4% +1.5

Overall 494 22.5% +1.2

The chart below shows drivers’ fuel consumption in miles per gallon (MPG) before and after tuition and

demonstrates that virtually all drivers were able to reduce their fuel consumption after tuition.

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Medium Investment Ecodriving Activities

The following are examples of ecodriving activities undertaken as part of Ecodriven that required a

medium level of investment.

Looking for A-Class Haulier

Project: Czech Republic

Target group: Haulier companies; truck drivers, some bus drivers.

Size of target group: About 3000 haulier companies which are members of the Czech leading haulier

association „CESMAD Bohemia”

Dates/duration: June 2008 – October 2008

Budget: 25 000 EUR

Partner organisations: National government; public and private sector organisations including

Ministerstvo dopravy ČR; Ministerstvo životního prostředí ČR; ČESMAD Bohemia; Barum Continental,

spol; Mercedes-Benz Česká republika; Michelin Česká republika; Scania Czech Republic; Shell Czech

Republic; ÚAMK; and Volvo Truck Czech

Contact: Tomas Vorisek, SEVEn, tomas.vorisek@svn.cz

Website: www.dopravcetridyA.cz

Under the title “Looking for A-class Haulier”, a voluntary certification programme for hauliers was

introduced to identify companies that introduced effective measure to improve the fuel economy of

their rolling stock and mitigate the negative effects of their business activities on the environment.

The programme was aimed principally at long distance road transport hauliers operating 3.5 – 12 tonnes

vans and trucks. Transport companies with heavier trucks and buses could also join the programme (but

that was not the case finally).

Applicants were tested in more than 15 criteria in three areas: technical quality of rolling-stock; vehicle

operation and maintenance including staff education; and environmental protection. Drivers were

awarded a certificate if their overall performance achieved a certain level. The certificate has a format

similar to an energy label known e.g. by white goods.

A total of 13 haulier companies enrolled for the programme and the eight best performing companies

were selected by an independent expert committee to be awarded an “A-class haulier” certificate.

Certification is valid for one year during which awarded companies are allowed to use it as a marketing

tool.

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The programme also provided participants with technical advice on how to improve their performance.

The initiative received strong support from both the public and businesses: a total of more than ten

organisations committed to promote the Programme including. VOLVO Trucks, Scania, Mercedes-Benz,

and the national haulier association "CESMAD Bohemia".

Thanks to good results and reception among the target group, the intention is to make the programme

permanent.

Eco-Challenge for the bus drivers of the RATP Paris bus network

Country: France

Target group: Bus drivers

Size of target group: 13,000 drivers

Date-Duration: September 2007/ June 2008

Budget: EUR 30,000 from ECODRIVEN; (Plus EUR 80,000 euros from RATP

Partner organisations: UITP, Jury member - WWF at the award ceremony

Contact: Agnès Leroy, RATP Agnès.Leroy@ratp.fr

The RATP is a French, state-owned company operating 80% of public transport in the Ile de France

Region and handling engineering, maintenance, and transit system operations in France and abroad.

The bus department has 4,200 buses, 352 bus lines, including night buses, and 3,635 million passengers

per day. Yearly consumption is 80 million litres of diesel fuel.

In 2006, the RATP Bus Operating and Maintenance Departments organised a competition between

different bus lines with the goal of reducing fuel consumption by 5%, which equates to 4 million litres or

11,500 TOE per year. The competition was well publicised to staff within RATP.

Fuel consumption was measured in September 2006 to establish the baseline and again in September

2007 to see how it had been reduced.

The staff from the line that achieved the highest percentage reduction in fuel consumption were invited

to a celebratory prize-awarding evening. The winning line was only announced on the award ceremony

night.

Eight lines managed to reduce their fuel consumption by more than 2%. These 8 lines saved a total of

81, 576 litres of fuel.

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Lessons learned

The Eco-Challenge was well received by bus drivers and maintenance operators. Cooperation between

both professions for improved fuel saving has been strengthened.

It is a good tool for local management that can reap collateral advantages: passenger comfort, lower

driver stress, improved grasp of the problems of urban driving, and so on.

The competition is a new format that could be used by other companies.

The Eco-Challenge got national and regional press feedback.

In conclusion, in 2009 RATP will continue this initiative, which aim it is to help professional practices to

sustain over time as part of each driver’s skills; the target in 2009 is to double results.

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Looking for A-Class Drivers

Project: Czech Republic

Target group: Private motorists; company car drivers; van drivers; bus drivers; truck drivers.

Size of target group: >1000 drivers participated (either receiving short-duration training or practicing

ecodriving in standard traffic)

Dates/duration: April 2007 – April 2008

Budget: 45 000 EUR

Partner organisations: National government (represented by two ministries) and organisations from

public as well as private sectors, namely: Ministerstvo dopravy ČR –

Ministerstvo životního prostředí ČR – Škoda Auto, a.s. – Autoklub Škoda – Shell

Czech Republic, a.s. – ÚAMK – Barum Continental spol. s r.o. – Scania Czech

Republic s.r.o. – Hlavní město Praha – SEVEn, Středisko pro efektivní využívání

energie, o. p. s.

Contact: Tomas Vorisek, SEVEn, tomas.vorisek@svn.cz

Website: www.uspornajizda.cz

Since ecodriving had not previously been promoted in the Czech Republic, the general approach was

first to raise awareness of the national campaign and secure the attention and support of important

national stakeholders and to prepare the ground for concrete campaign activities directed at specific

target groups. Numerous consultations and broad partnerships resulted in three major actions

undertaken under the campaign banner: “Looking for A Class Drivers”

1. Short-duration ecodriving lessons at automotive-related events. 16 days of ecodriving courses

were organised with over 800 hundred participants in total. Skoda provided the cars for

the training and the Skoda Auto touring club provided the trainers.

2. A long-term ecodriving competition in real-life driving. This competition, which ran on the

campaign website, involved drivers competing in their everyday driving to achieve the

lowest possible fuel consumption relative to their cars’ official fuel consumption figures. To

be eligible, participants had to drive a minimum of 5000 km and record their mileage and

the amount of fuel they used. From these results an “energy class” rating was derived and

displayed on an A to G energy label similar to the white goods label. SEVEn were therefore

able to classify drivers’ performance on the same scale regardless of the type of a car they

drove. Over five hundred drivers registered for the competition of which more than two

hundred drove the minimum required distance. The best 50 drivers that provided sufficient

evidence of their performance were then invited to a one-day final contest in April 2008.

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3. Information & Dissemination. Information and dissemination continued throughout the

campaign: leaflets and give-aways were distributed during the ecodriving courses and

through corporate partners such as Shell fuel stations, Barum Continental service outlets,

and Skoda Auto car dealers. LeasePlan also promoted ecodriving in the Czech Republic.

The presence of senior figures including the Minister for the Environment and a Director of Skoda

Auto ensured that the campaign received good media attention. Information about the press

conference was broadcast on national television and radio channels and was published in national

and local newspapers and on the internet.

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Ecodriving Workshops & General Media Campaign

Country: Greece

Target group: Politicians & other decision-makers; Consumers / individuals; Company car

drivers; Bus drivers; Truck drivers; Association of Driving Instructors

Size of target group: 500 000

Dates/duration: September 2007 – November 2008

Budget: 60 000 EUR

Partner organisations: Greek Ministry of Transport; Greek Ministry of Development (funded part of

campaign material); Hellenic Petroleum Marketing Companies Association

(SEPPE); The Road Safety Institute (IOAS); AIG Greece – General Insurance

company (funded part of campaign material); LeasePlan Greece (funded part of

campaign material); Greek Federation of Driving Schools (POEEAM); Driving

Schools; Road Safety Institute of Athens Municipality; Urban Transport

Organisation of Athens (OASA); Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers;

Car manufacturers like Toyota and Daihatsu; Urban Bus Company of Athens

(ETHEL)

Contact: Mrs Maria Zarkadoula mariazar@cres.gr

Website: www.ecodriving.gr

One of the main objectives of CRES has been to inform decision-makers on ecodriving and its benefits in order to achieve a wider spread of the concept on a national level. CRES succeeded in this by involving the Minister of Transport at the kick-off event and at a high level event in Leipzig. As a result the Minister has already announced (in August 2008) the launch of a new campaign for the promotion of ecodriving in Greece as well as the integration of ecodriving in the educational and examinations procedure for the acquisition of the driving licence (beginning January 2009). In addition large transport companies (such as ETHEL, public urban buses of Athens) are now, with the support of the Ministry, less reluctant in participating in pilot or other actions in cooperation with CRES for the promotion of ecodriving. Further training courses are to be expected. Finally, the great degree of participation of CRES in various events around the country has initiated a great interest of the press, assisting again in the further promotion of the concept CRES personnel have given 10 radio interviews (one for English speaking audience) and 4 TV interviews (including the national TV network channel - NET). In addition, CRES completed negotiations regarding the redesign and update of its website (www.ecodriving.gr) in order to look more professional and be more appealing and interactive to the end user. Moreover, during this period, CRES has participated in various events such as the Thessaloniki International Fair 2008, the European Mobility Week 2008

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where CRES gave a speech regarding ecodriving and the Athens Tuning Show 2008. Leaflets and other promotion material has been given also to the more than 70,000 visitors of this latter mentioned event In May 2008 CRES delivered ecodriving training for truck drivers. The average saving after training was 15%, which caught the attention of the three oil company sponsors. CRES has also run ecodriving courses for driving instructors. Reaction from the instructors was positive, with many indicating that they will integrate ecodriving into their driving lessons. Moreover during July 2008, CRES delivered ecodriving training to a private lease company to catch its attention for further action. Finally, in November 2008, CRES delivered another ecodriving training for trolley bus drivers with excellent results – average energy consumption reduction of approximately 25%.

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Ecodriving Roadshows

Country: Netherlands

Target group: Consumers / individuals; Company car drivers; Van drivers

Size of target group: 10 Million licensed drivers. Reached on site: 25,000 licensed drivers

Dates/duration: 25 September – 30 October 2007

Budget: 100 000 EUR

Partner organisations: Shell, simulator and training providers, vehicle manufacturer, touring club, tyre

manufacturers and suppliers, ANWB.

Contact: Peter Wilbers, SenterNovem. (P.Wilbers@senternovem.nl )

Website: www.hetnieuwerijden.nl

For five weeks in September and October 2007 various activities took place to promote ecodriving at

Shell fuel stations and adjacent parking lots alongside highways. This included the deployment of

simulators, vehicles and instructors for on-road training, tyre pressure checks, Doeks (Dukes) car and

Debby (Daisy) lookalikes washing windscreens, and ecodriving information stands. The Shell road team

distributed flyers at Shell stations to draw drivers’ attention to the Roadshow activities, starting three

days in advance. Flyers were also available at the coffee corner of Shell shops.

The action reached at least 25 000 drivers directly and an estimated 3 million through media exposure

including radio and newspaper coverage. Much of the media coverage focussed on the key ecodriving

tips.

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High Investment Ecodriving Activities

The following are examples of ecodriving activities undertaken as part of Ecodriven that required a high

level of investment.

“Spritspar Initiative"

Country: Austria

Target group: Politicians / Decision-makers (Ministers); Private car drivers; Company car

drivers; Bus drivers; Truck drivers; Driving Schools; Novice drivers √

Size of target group: Austrian people older than 17 years

Dates/duration: Ongoing

Budget: Not applicable

Partner organisations: national government; Association of driving schools; Energy suppliers;

Automobile associations (ÖAMTC, ARBÖ); Vehicle manufacturers; Company

fleets; ÖBB Postbus (bus fleet)

Contact: Mr. Robin Krutak, robin.krutak@energyagency.at

Mrs.Bettina Emmerling, bettina.emmerling@energyagency.at

Website: www.spritspar.at

www.klimaaktiv.at

The ecodriving initiative (“Spritspar Initiative”) in Austria is part of “klima:aktiv mobil”, the Austrian

initiative to combat greenhouse gas emissions and climate change in transport, launched by the Ministry

of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and managed by the Austrian Energy

Agency. The ecodriving initiative includes the following:

• An annual ecodriving competition and accompanying media campaign.

• Certification of ecodriving trainers and training support

• Ecodriving training for car, truck and bus drivers

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Ecodriving Competition

The nationwide ecodriving competition has taken place annually since 2004. In 2008, 3 000 drivers

applied for the competition, from which 435 were chosen at random. The competition comprises

twelve half-day heats and a final which last year took place in Vienna on the 20th of September 2008.

The competition is simply to complete a given course with the lowest fuel consumption. The 2008

winner achieved 2,98 litres/ 100 kilometres in a VW Golf TDI Blue Motion, which was an outstanding

33% better than the car’s official drive-cycle fuel consumption of 4.5 litres/100km.

Certification of Ecodriving Instructors

In order to promote ecodriving more widely a pilot project was established in autumn 2004 to train

existing driving instructors to deliver ecodriving lessons. In the first year 21 instructors undertook and

passed this three day course to become certified ecodriving instructors. In 2006 a manual for ecodriving

instructors was developed and later that year the board of Austrian driving schools took over the

certification scheme. Today there are 200 certified car ecodriving instructors; 50 truck and bus

ecodriving instructors and six senior instructors authorised to ‘train the trainers’.

Certified Ecodriving Training for Car, Truck and Bus Drivers

The Ecodriving initiative in Austria offers certified training for car, truck and bus drivers. Accompanying

handbooks for the three vehicle classed have been developed in conjunction with the Austrian

Association of Driving Schools, ÖAMTC and Postbus. In 2008 a handbook for agricultural tractors is also

planned. To date 2,800 bus drivers, nearly 2000 truck drivers and 1.500 car drivers have been trained.

Typical fuel savings after training are 5-15%.

Cooperation with the Austrian federal railway (“ÖBB” ) has been particularly successful. With

approximately 2,800 drivers and a fleet of 2,100 busses, ÖBB is the biggest bus fleet operator in Austria.

In a two year project all 2,800 drivers joined an ecodriving training. In addition, 4,800 train drivers from

“ÖBB-Traktion” have been trained. It is estimated that through ecodriving ÖBB’s has reduced its CO2

emissions by 8,000 tonnes per year.

The Austrian ecodriving campaign is set to continue in 2009, with plans to work in partnership with

other large fleets and to extend even further the partnership work with driving schools.

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“Het Nieuwe Rijden"

Country: Netherlands

Target group: Private car drivers; Company car drivers; Bus drivers; Truck drivers; Train

drivers, Novice drivers

Size of target group: 10,000,0000

Dates/duration: Ongoing

Budget: 2,500,000 EUR annually

Partner organisations: Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Environment, over 40 consumer and retail

organisations;

Contact: Mr. Peter Wilbers, p.wilbers@senternovem.nl

Suzan Reitsma, s.reitsma@senternovem.nl

Website: www.hetnieuwerijden.nl

The Dutch national ecodriving programme ‘Het Nieuwe Rijden’ concerns a long-term strategy for the

period 1999 until 2011. The programme is implemented by SenterNovem, on behalf of the Dutch

Ministry of Transport. It encourages (professional) drivers and fleet owners to purchase and drive

passenger cars, delivery vans, lorries and trains more energy-efficiently.

The programme collaborates with over 40 consumer and retail organisations, mainly in the transport

and car business.

The Dutch national ecodriving programme comprises the following issues:

1. Driving school curriculums

2. Re-educating licensed drivers

3. Fuel saving in-car devices

4. Tyre pressures

5. Purchasing behaviour

Important elements of the programme are also international cooperation, communication and

evaluation and monitoring.

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The Dutch ecodriving programme has proven to realise substantial reductions in CO2 emissions and to

contribute to Environmentally Sustainable Transport. It also has shown to have positive effects on other

important policy issues like road safety, traffic noise nuisance and driver stress.

The Dutch ecodriving programme is evaluated annually. The results of the 2007 evaluation show that

one third of the Dutch licensed drivers apply the main ecodriving driving style tips and 8 out of 10

licensed drivers are familiar with Het Nieuwe Rijden and its contents. In 2007 the programme resulted

in at least 0.3 Mton CO2 emission avoidance. The target of the programme is a CO2 emission avoidance

of 1.5 Mton in 2010. The cost-effectiveness of the ecodriving programme results in a favourable cost-

effectiveness of less then €10 per ton avoided CO2 emissions.

The programme is a model for EU countries as well as for the EC.

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9 Lessons Learned for European Ecodriving & Traffic Safety Campaigns

Consortium & International Partnerships

Involving less experienced countries is not at all a handicap when setting up European energy-efficiency

(ecodriving) and/or traffic safety campaigns. They incite more experienced countries and ‘compell’ them

to reflect on their conducted and planned activities.

It is supportive as well to collaborate with international associations. This engages national member

organisations. ECODRIVEN collaborated e.g. with FIA, ACEA, Ford of Europe and international lease

companies.

Importance of National Partnerships

The overriding message from almost all ECODRIVEN partners is the importance of developing good

partnerships with other organisations, be they private companies, associations, charities, NGOs, utilities,

administrations, Government or other.

From the Netherlands it was reported that joining forces with commercial and branche organisations

helps with credibility because the target groups take these organisations more seriously than

governmental agencies or administrations. Moreover these commercial organisations have at their

disposal well developed networks and vast distribution/communication/media channels, which adds to

the efficiency and effectiveness of the actions. However the SenterNovem also struck a cautionary note

by pointing out that campaigns with many partners are very time consuming to organise, which has led

SenterNovem to consider outsourcing more of the logistical support in future.

SenterNovem have established a vast network of ecodriving partners which are committed to the Dutch

national ecodriving programma Het Nieuwe Rijden. Over 40 organisations are partner in the ecodriving

network. The interest of joining is has significantly increased over the last few years. The ecodriving

programme is never sender of the message, but the Het Nieuwe Rijden platform is.

In Austria the ecodriving initiative provides a very successful platform for partnership working between

several organisations including Associations, commercial partners, driving schools and the ministry for

environment and in the UK a partnership between the Energy Saving Trust and Ford presented probably

the most successful ecodriving action in that county to date.

From Poland when KAPE wanted to organise driving instructor training the involvement of partners was

invaluable in terms of logistics (as KAPE didn’t have existing contacts in this field) and recruitment

because with a relatively unknown subject there would be little exiting interest or demand. Another

Polish initiative saw KAPE organise three one-day training sessions and again partnership working was

key with KAPE reporting that the association with a well-known fleet management company afforded

credibility to the subject and the project.

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In Belgium the partnership between a large commercial player (Michelin) and the Federation of

Environmental NGOs (BBL) worked particularly well. The presence of Michelin gave drivers confidence

in the campaign’s technical knowledge and ability and the presence of BBL gave drivers confidence in

the wider environmental claims. However BBL also noted that the environmental angle tended to be

overshadowed by safety messages and in future work BBL will aim to give greater emphasis to these.

The general message to draw from this example is to take care with partnerships that the organisations’

key messages and priorities are aligned with respect to any joint campaign work.

Strategy

From the UK a key learning was ‘Don’t try to re-invent the wheel’: Learn from other countries’

experience and if appropriate involve partners from other countries in the design of projects. However,

be mindful that cultural and national differences must be taken into account so projects may have to be

adapted accordingly.

In Belgium BBL found that establishing a regular working group meeting between partners was very

successful, not only helping with coordination and logistics but also affording a sense of common

purpose.

In Austria and in the UK it is reported that securing the support of a “champion” within an organisation

is invaluable in terms of organising a company’s training, selling internally, and acting as a case study for

other companies. Such a champion needn’t be particularly senior and doesn’t need to be in a specific

role, but must have enthusiasm, connections and good communication skills.

From the Czech Republic comes a note of realism, with SEVEn reporting that after a rush of initial

interest they were disappointed in the number of participants. The biggest problem for potential

participants turned out to be meeting the requirements for the minimum distance driven to be eligible

for the long term real-life driving competition. This is a point of interest for future competitions. A

general lesson to be drawn here is also not to be too ambitious or demanding in what is required from

participants: the general public’s enthusiasm for ecodriving is not without its limits.

The long term benefits of small individual projects are rarely as good as expected. Long term strategies

and campaigns are required to ensure that changes in driving behaviour and associated reductions in

fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are permanent.

Gaining High-Level Political Support

In Greece the support of the Greek Minister of Transport was critical to the success of the Greek

campaign and makes it likely that the second phase of the campaign will also be successful. This shows

how the formal support of a senior decision maker can give a campaign a real boost.

However CRES also report that the Greek campaign would have been even more successful if a clear

national energy policy was established that included ecodriving as one of the means of achieving its

goals.

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In the UK a breakthrough in political support came after EST presented the Government with hard

evidence from within the UK showing the effectiveness of driving tuition in reducing fuel consumption.

This evidence was key to a decision by the UK Department for Transport in 2008 to fund training for

4000 driver in 2008/9 and potentially 40,000 in 2009/10.

Messages & Media

Some ecodriving campaigns lead primarily on environmental messages, some on financial messages and

some on the safety messages, but in all cases uniformity of tips is of utmost importance for driver

acceptance. In the UK, for example, the Energy Saving Trust’s primary interest is environmental but it

leads its ecodriving campaigns with financial message as consumers are more receptive to these.

In the Czech Republic SEVEn found that advice focussed purely on reducing fuel consumption appealed

only to a narrow audience, mainly comprised of those who already drove in a careful manner and SEVEn

found that they could reach a wider audience and that drivers were more receptive to messages

promoting ‘how to get the most out of your car’ and ‘how to be a better driver’.

In the UK a national ecodriving competition organised as a partnership between EST and Ford received

reasonably good media attention but in retrospect EST believes that a lot more publicity could have

been obtained if media partners such as a newspaper or a car magazine had been a partner in the

project.

In Greece incentives were found to be essential to promote ecodriving to audiences that would not

normally be receptive to the subject. A case in point was the Athens Tuning Show, where the visitors

are traditionally fast drivers who pay little attention to their fuel consumption. However during the

competition the prize of a Toyota Aygo attracted a lot of attention even from this challenging audience.

In Belgium BBL ran a successful campaign to promote ecodriving to learner drivers but on review felt

that the campaign could have been improved significantly by TV and radio ads targeted specifically at

young people and with appropriately tailored messages.

In promoting ecodriving in a country where the concept was little known, SEVEn used an A to G Energy

Label similar in appearance to the energy label used on white goods and new cars to display their CO2

emissions. Drivers reacted well to this because they already recognised and related to the label. This

experience suggests that in other countries where ecodriving is little known, campaigns might do well to

use material that is visually similar to material with which drivers are already familiar.

From Finland comes a warning of the difficulty of maintaining long term media interest in a campaign.

Motiva reports that in the early days of their ecodriving training programme, which began in1997-98,

there was considerable media interest in the project even from overseas, but ten years on the project

has little media value. However, Motiva points out that this is not necessarily a bad thing as it reflects

the fact that ecodriving training for new drivers is now accepted within Finland as a normal part of life.

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However, the Netherlands reports the opposite experience, with media coverage increasing as new

parties join their long-running campaign.

On-Road Training

Many partners report positive experiences of promoting on-road driver training. Motiva in Finland and

KAPE in Poland both emphasise the importance of investing sufficient time and resources in training the

trainers, so that these trainers are then well equipped to cascade their knowledge to others.

The Austrian Energy Agency believes that ecodriving should play an even greater role in the new driver

test and that examiners should be required to know more about ecodriving.

Motiva have found that most drivers react positively to receiving ecodriving training in their second

phase courses even though they received similar training in their first phase courses. It seems that

repeating the training and reinforcing the ecodriving messages is useful and is appreciated by drivers.

In the UK EST was surprised both at the effectiveness of short-duration training and at the almost

universally positive reaction that it received from trainees.

In the Netherlands there is a growing interest for ecodriving training courses on the road, especially for

short-duration courses. Many lease companies offer training courses to their drivers. Also the interest

for the deployment of simulators is increasing. The fact that simulators have become considerably more

compact, mobile, easy to use and cost-effective heavily contributes.

And in Belgium the campaign to train instructors and examiners was a great success. BBL believe a key

factor to this success was the fact that at an early stage they obtained the support of the various

stakeholders involved in driver training and examination.

Monitoring

It is crucial to start up a solid monitoring from the very beginning. This helps especially starting countries

to convince potential sponsors and partners to join in and to haul in subsequent activities and projects.

(Positive) monitoring results are also rewarding for all the partners who have invested in activities and

projects, to have evidence of the results of these investments. Although behaviour is hard to monitor

there are solid monitoring schemes available. Further information about monitoring can be achieved

from the coordinator of the ECODRIVEN project SenterNovem (see www.ecodrive.org).

Existing Ecodriving Networks

For further European campaigns existing networks can be used. One of them is the ECODRIVEN

network. This network has representatives in 9 EU countries:

• SenterNovem (Project Coordinator), Netherlands

http://www.senternovem.nl

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• Energy Saving Trust, EST, United Kingdom

http://www.est.org.uk

• Motiva Oy, Motiva, Finland

http://www.motiva.fi/en

• Austrian Energy Agency, AEA, Austria

http://www.energyagency.at/(en)/index.htm

• Centre for Renewable Energy Sources, CRES , Greece

http://www.cres.gr/kape/index_eng.htm

• Bond Beter Leefmilieu, BBL, Belgium

http://www.bondbeterleefmilieu.be

• The Polish National Energy Conservation Agency KAPE, Poland

http://www.kape.gov.pl

• Stredisko pro efektivi vyuzivani energie, SEVEn, Czech Republic

http://www.svn.cz

• Regie Autonome des transport parisiens, RATP, France

http://www.ratp.fr

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10 Conclusions

1) ECODRIVEN partners organised and undertook a wide variety of successful projects to promote

ecodriving from 2006 - 2008 including many competitions, on-the-road training, promotions

involving simulators and media and advertising campaigns. The projects led to a 1 Mton CO2

emission avoidance until 2010, of which 0.5 Mton can be attributed to the 50% funding of

Intelligent Energy Europe.

2) There can be no set formula to establishing a campaign, but based upon the experience of the

last two years an attempt at generalising the overall approach might be the following:

• Seek high level political support for the ecodriving initiative.

• Decide upon overall strategy and general approach. For example, on-the-road training,

media campaign, awareness raising etc.

• Learn from previous projects & experience. To this end feel free to get in touch with the

ECODRIVEN partners whose email address are listed in “Ecodriving Initiatives” chapter

of this report.

• Seek partnerships with appropriate organisations. These might be from the private or

public sector for example vehicle manufacturers, tyre manufacturers, central or local

Government, environmental or transport organisations, regulators, or driving schools.

• Decide upon your key messages and the media that you would like to involve.

3) The ECODRIVEN project has undoubtedly made a marked positive difference in the countries in

which it operated. In the majority of cases the projects outlined in this report would not have

occurred or would have been significantly diminished without the ECODRIVEN project.

Furthermore many of the projects have already had knock-on effects and led to subsequent

projects and initiatives that are not covered in this report. For example in the UK the initiative

that EST ran with Ford of Britain has led to a Government funded programme to deliver similar

short-duration ecodriving courses; and in Paris RATP is planning to continue and extent its

ecodriving programme in 2009 even though ECODRIVEN has now finished.

4) Another broad conclusion is that ecodriving is a concept whose time has truly come since it

neatly addresses three key global concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, rising fuel prices

and energy security. Across Europe interest in and awareness of ecodriving will continue to

grow even after the conclusion of the ECODRIVEN project.

5) For future energy-efficiency (ecodriving) and traffic safety campaigns it is vital to cooperate with

both international associations and national partners who are in close contact with the target

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groups and can be used as intermediary for promotional activities. ECODRIVEN has established a

network that can be easily deployed for such future campaigns.