SIS 86 Traffic Management and the electric power grid

Session Organiser: Johanna Tzanidaki, AYA Consulting, The Netherlands

Traffic management is not anymore about traffic lights and intersections, or is it? The development of traffic management practices towards interactive and demand responsive operations established by the TM 2.0 concept have brought forward the understanding that traffic flows should take into account more parameters than those it used to in the past. The transition to electromobility and energy efficient mobility is such a parameter, and that brings more (and new) stakeholders on the table of negotiating and balancing the needs of the public and private stakeholder groups using and managing the road network. At the same time, the sustainability of power grids is becoming linked to the capacity of the road network at given peak times of e-charging as it puts extra stress on the available charging networks. The modification of power grids to accommodate for more and more e-charging stations can result in the collapse of the electric power system placing the task of balancing their capacity under that of managing traffic. That is the case provided that the traffic management operators are aware of not only the O-D of the vehicles using the road network but also of their charging needs information (timings and possibly driving style of the driver). In this Session, research and ITS industry stakeholders will share their vision and strategy as well as best practices on how the power grid needs can be taken on board by traffic managers and public authorities when managing traffic flows.