Light vehicles – heavy impacts? Joint POLIS WG meeting with ACEM and LENS

Light vehicles – heavy impacts? Joint POLIS WG meeting with ACEM and LENS
17-18 September 2024 - Paris, IFPEN Offices & Online

POLIS Network is delighted to announce its joint working group meeting on light vehicles, which is organised in cooperation with ACEM and the EU-funded LENS project. The two-day event will take place from 17-18 September 2024 at the premises of IFPEN in Paris, France. 

L-vehicles are often an inexpensive and efficient way to get around cities, but also cause significant noise- and air pollution. Nevertheless, this particular mode of transport is often forgotten by policy makers and city administrations. POLIS , ACEM and IFPEN will bring light vehicles to the centre of attention with a dedicated working group meeting. Participants will have the chance to gain a holistic overview of the day-to-day impacts and externalities of L-vehicles in urban areas, while having the opportunity to attend the live noise- and air pollution measurement campaign of LENS and receive a tour of the IFPEN vehicle (components) testing laboratory.

Our L-vehicle focus topics

Internal planning of each working group session is currently ongoing, but a first outline is available below. Since L-vehicles are a POLIS priority of 2024, as they are often overlooked in the policy-making processes, this dedicated event will raise awareness and promote exchange between POLIS members and external participants from the LENS stakeholder & city platform. Each of the following topics will have 75min-long session, which includes presentations from POLIS members and/or ACEM, followed by an open discussion, moderated by the dedicated working group chairs:

• Clean Vehicles & Air Quality
  Infrastructure requirements for small electric vehicles
• Access & Parking
  Parking management of L-vehicles in dense urban contexts with limited curb space
• Urban Freight  
  L -vehicles as the backbone of urban goods & food deliveries
• Safety & Security
  Challenge of L-vehicles exclusion from category of vulnerable road users
• Governance
  Share L-vehicle operation in urban areas

EU-funded LENS project and its measurement campaign

The LENS project has four main aims. Firstly, to perform noise- and air pollution tests in a laboratory environment to gain an overview of L-vehicle emissions. Secondly, to perform real-world road measurement tests in three cities, of which the first tests in Leuven (BE) were a success with more than 160 vehicles tested. The second live tests are undertaken in Paris in the week of the event. 

Draft agenda:

Day 1 – 17 September 2024

9:00     Welcome Words   
9:30     Clean Vehicles & Air Quality 
10:45   Access & Parking 
12:00   Coffee break  
12:15   Governance & Integration 
13:30   Lunch  
14:30   Urban Freight 
15:45   Safety & Security  
17:00   Coffee break  
17:15   Overview of LENS project  
18:00   Dinner (TBD)  

Day 2 – 18 September 2024

9:00   Welcome Coffee  
9:30   Welcome by EMISIA and/or IFPEN  
9:45   Summary & first conclusions of LENS measurement campaign  
10:30  L-vehicle pollution mitigation strategies in Paris (Bruitparif & IFPEN)
11:00  Coffee Break  
11:15  Technical explanation of LENS   
12:15  Site visit (subject to change if weather conditions are not suitable)  
14:00  End of event  

*Please be aware that the planned agenda and site visits are subject to minor change, due to the availability of speakers, change in the LENS testing regime and acute weather constellations.