Simon Edwards, Project Coordinator for LeMesurier and Innovation Director at Ricardo, shares insights into his extensive career in the automotive and transport sectors. With over four decades of experience and a focus on sustainability, Mr Edwards discusses the significance of LeMesurier in assessing and enhancing the 2ZERO initiative—a key EU partnership aimed at achieving zero-emission mobility. He delves into the challenges of monitoring diverse sustainability metrics across projects, LeMesurier’s legacy, and its anticipated impact on future mobility policies and practices.
Could you share a bit about your background and how your work at Ricardo supports the mission of making mobility more sustainable?
I have been working in the automotive industry for over forty years: variously at an OEM, a Tier 1 supplier and, for the majority of my career, with Ricardo. When I look back, I see that most of my work has been related to what is known now, collectively, as “sustainability”: emissions reductions from engines, efficiency improvements in powertrains, vehicles and operations, plus, latterly, at the interface of research, innovation and policy in the road transport domain.
Ricardo is a global strategic, environmental and engineering consultancy at the intersection of the transport, energy and global climate agendas. Our team of consultants, environmental specialists, engineers and scientists deliver inventive and cross-sector solutions that help our clients create a safe and sustainable world. In my role as Innovation Director, I work across Ricardo to drive research, technology and innovation, supported through associated funding, in the delivery of large collaborative and commercial technology projects. Consequently, I am also active within Brussels, representing Ricardo at EARPA, the RTOs (research and technology organisations) within the ERTRAC board, EGVIAfor2Zero, etc.
The 2ZERO projects, which LeMesurier is assessing, have internal KPIs to measure their performance against. Why is the project LeMesurier necessary?
2ZERO is a co-programmed partnership, between the European Commission and stakeholders (EGVIAfor2Zero), promoting green vehicles and mobility system solutions in Europe. The 2ZERO Partnership, with the support of five Technology Platforms (ERTRAC, EPoSS, ETIP-SNET, ALICE and Batteries Europe), investigates new vehicle technologies, implementing a systems approach covering Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEV) in various projects realised within the Horizon Europe framework programme. Further, 2ZERO’s scope covers the integration of zero tailpipe emission vehicles within their eco-system, hence contributing to EU competitiveness and technological leadership.
As such, it is correct for the various (over thirty now) 2ZERO projects to have their internal KPIs. However, 2ZERO itself, as defined within its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, has its own set of goals and targets: it is the necessary measurement of 2ZERO against these targets (meta-goals, if you wish) that the LeMesurier project is concerned with. Hence, whilst individual projects may contribute to the achievement of one or more of the individual 2ZERO goals, it is the overall achievement of 2ZERO in its entirety against its targets that is being assessed within LeMesurier.
What is the biggest challenge the LeMesurier consortium faces in assessing such a large amount of data from diverse projects, and how is the consortium addressing it?
You imply a challenge within the question you ask, however, I take a slightly different perspective. It is the large number of goals and targets that 2ZERO has (there are over forty, deriving from the twenty or so objectives to be measured against (again, set out for the 2ZERO Partnership within its SRIA, in a three-tier arrangement)). This challenge is complicated since the targets are various, the achievement of some which can only be measured downstream (primarily in time (see page 38 of the SRIA)) of (after) the completion of the individual projects.
To answer this challenge, LeMesurier is determining a common framework for monitoring the multiple and various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to the 2ZERO objectives (including the KPI sources, methods and reporting formats). It is generating values for the KPIs and their expected variation for the coming decade based on the results of the projects being conducted within the Partnership and the assessment of the impact of these projects results.
How do you think LeMesurier’s findings and recommendations will contribute to the future of sustainable mobility? What legacy are you expecting from the project?
Beyond the determination of a common framework to measure the values of the 2ZERO KPIs, LeMesurier is supporting the identification and quantification of all interactions, impacts and effectiveness of the Partnership within the road transport challenge. Particularly, this is in relation to the generic objectives of a carbon-neutral road transport system by 2050, air quality, technology leadership, economic growth, competitiveness and circular economy aspects within Europe. These aspects, whilst intrinsic to 2ZERO, to sustainable mobility, go beyond the Partnership and look to the future of Europe more generally.
Furthermore, LeMesurier will provide recommendations for the development and analysis of the means of measurement and evaluation of the Partnership within the road transport challenge. Hence, whilst LeMesurier is a brief project, its findings need to be applied, used and enhanced throughout the duration of the 2ZERO Partnership and its possible successors. Additionally, the methods from and learning within LeMesurier can help other partnerships and programmes in the future, perhaps, initially, those also related to the mobility domain. Thereafter, extension of the methods is a natural progression: the need for such measurement and projection is already recognised by the EC – I would consider it a success of LeMesurier if the methods used therein are applied to those wider needs as well.
How do you see LeMesurier’s work impacting sustainable mobility policy and project planning in the long term? What role does this project play in advancing 2ZERO’s goals toward zero-emission mobility?
Perhaps I have already answered this question, in part, in my previous response. Nevertheless, LeMesurier is disseminating its approach and will communicate its results to a wide range of stakeholders, throughout the road transport sector, but also across Member States and to the public in general, via a range of media and events. A plea to all here who are interested: please get in touch if you want to learn more, perhaps to attend such events.
Hence, through broad dissemination, I trust that those involved in future policy work, and future project planning become aware of our findings and take account of them. This, hopefully, is related to the road transport research and innovation domain, that is the concern of 2ZERO, its successors and the partnerships it interacts with in particular but, also, more generally, to other domains and policy considerations.