Mobility Matters Extra - The State of the Roadmaps
A nice list of good ones for you to look at
The only certainty about life is its uncertainty. And so this week has not gone how I planned it to. Nor, in fact has progress on this roadmap. Let me put it this way, I spent much of my Saturday re-writing an Enhanced Partnership agreement for a local authority. None of this is your fault of course, but it meant that I have had to take tough decisions about my time, which has meant that I have been unable to write this week’s post.
But I don’t want to leave you good people with nothing. You have supported me, after all. So I thought that as roadmaps is my thing right now, I would point you in the direction of some good ones that I have come across over the last few weeks, that do a good job of articulating the technological challenge associated with Net Zero in transport. They are here for your reading pleasure.
In the meantime, I will have a long, hard think about how this will progress. I hope that you will forgive me.
James
Decarbonising UK Transport (UK Department for Transport). This roadmap, published alongside the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, is a bit high level for me, but its the only one that I have come across that does somewhat of a good job to relate the developments in technology with the Net Zero challenge on any sort of ambitious timescale.
The LivingRAIL Roadmap 2050 (LivingRAIL Consortium). What I love about this roadmap is that it breaks down the vision - an electrified European rail network - into highly defined chunks, before setting out how each technological strand links with changes in regulation and the user experience. It’s the best roadmap I have seen.
Aircraft Technology Roadmap to 2050 (IATA). Decarbonising air transport is one of the biggest decarbonisation challenges. This roadmap goes all in on changing the technology on aircraft and aircraft design, and gives a passing mention to electric planes. What I like about this roadmap is its honesty. It says that there is going to be a 5 years gap (2025 to 2030) in technology development, that the industry does not know how to bridge yet.
Hydrogen RoadMap Europe (FCH). Whatever your views on Hydrogen as a technology, what this roadmap does well is identify interfaces with other sectors, and how that can be to the advantage of the technology itself. It’s too light touch for my liking, but the fact that a roadmap considers how the technology will mature in other sectors really makes this one stand out.
UK Ports of the Future (Connected Places Catapult). This is more vision than it is roadmap. But what it does well is link capabilities with challenges, for example linking the UK’s skilled low carbon workforce with the challenges facing decarbonisation in UK ports. It takes the people part of the roadmap, and asks the tough question about how we ensure we have the skills for a low carbon future.
Mobility as a Service (MaaS) - A Digital Roadmap for Public Transport Authorities (CERRE). Why this roadmap is good is one thing: financing. Too many roadmaps are vision documents. This one says that enabling the transition will require public funding, but in turn this will open up new revenue streams.
Disruptive Technology and Innovation in Transport (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). This is an average roadmap document for the most part. Then it hits page 40, and for 3 pages it is the perfect starter document for policy makers. Here is the policy challenge, and here is what you need to do to sort it. If you want to read the evidence, read the previous 40 pages. Love it.
Automotive technology roadmaps (Automotive Council). These are old roadmaps, and they look completely naff. But what is great about these is what you don’t see. An entire industry signed up to them, for that is what the Automotive Council achieved. Most of the things on these roadmaps were achieved as a result.
Future Transport Technology Roadmap 2021-2024 (Transport for New South Wales). A technology roadmap that is usable for local policy makers, perfectly integrates current trials, and measures success outside of just deploying the technology. One of the best I have seen.
Enjoy reading!