USER-CHI, User-Centric Smart Charging for E-Mobility (H2020)
Cities Forum took part in USER-CHI, a Horizon 2020 research and innovation project aiming to unlock the large-scale uptake of electric mobility across Europe through integrated smart-charging solutions, novel business models and new regulatory frameworks.
Year: 2020–2024 | Client: European Commission (H2020) — coordinated by ETRA I+D | Country: EU (Spain, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Finland)
Cities Forum took part in USER-CHI, a Horizon 2020 research and innovation project aiming to unlock the large-scale uptake of electric mobility across Europe through integrated smart-charging solutions, novel business models and new regulatory frameworks. USER-CHI's premise is that the barrier to mass EV adoption is no longer the vehicle alone but the charging ecosystem around it, and that putting the user at the centre, while exploiting the synergies between e-mobility and a greening grid, is essential to overcoming it.
Our approach
Coordinated by ETRA I+D, the project brought together a European consortium to develop and validate its solutions in five urban areas, the Barcelona metropolitan area, Rome, Berlin, Budapest and Turku, chosen as nodes on the Mediterranean and Scandinavian-Mediterranean TEN-T corridors, with two further replication cities, Murcia and Florence, to maximise post-project impact. The approach combined innovative charging technology, user-centric service design, and the integration of e-mobility with grid greening, weaving technology, business models and regulation into a coherent, working ecosystem rather than isolated pilots.
What we delivered
Within this consortium, Cities Forum contributed to communication and dissemination, helping to translate a complex, multi-city research project into clear messages and to maximise its reach and impact across cities, industry and the public, including by showcasing USER-CHI at its own Movieléctrica electric-mobility fair, connecting European research to a local audience. This role placed the firm alongside partners such as EUROCITIES in ensuring the project's results reached the audiences that could act on them.
Impact
Participation in USER-CHI embedded Cities Forum in a leading European electromobility research consortium and in the networks of cities and institutions driving the charging-infrastructure transition. It reinforced the firm's engagement with EU-funded innovation and its ability to bridge research and practice, carrying lessons from a flagship European project into its own events and into its international advisory work on electric mobility.
