SEC has started a focus group on resilience and electromobility. Jens Hagman from RISE and Fran Márquez Fernández from VTI lead the work together with a small core group. All SEC partners are welcome and encouraged to participate. Region Skåne, as an invited member, contributes with valuable insights as one of Sweden’s largest public authorities.
The focus group had its starting meeting in August. So far it has held two webinars, and the plan is to have a few more before the end of the summer. The insights from the work will be summarized in a final workshop to start discussions on what role resilience may play in SEC’s research themes.
The focus group grew out of discussions partly due to increasing concerns about the geopolitical and climate stability in the world, but it can also be seen as a sign of electromobility’s maturity.
“We have pretty much been occupied with making electromobility work the last ten years, so resilience has not been a priority for most people. When electrical vehicles now start to get more accessible and common in society, disturbances have a larger effect. What the unrest in the world has done is to put a spotlight and a sense of urgency on this matter,” says Fran Márquez Fernández.
Starting from scratch
Resilience can be a wide concept, and the focus group’s first task was to discuss about its meaning and implications.
“It’s been important for us to start from scratch, to create a common understanding of what resilience means. When we talk about resilience it’s about the ability to handle disruptions that have large implications on a societal level. The causes can vary but the common denominator is that it’s something that traditional risk management can’t handle based on known probabilities and consequences. It’s basically an event of some sort that you really can’t have detailed plans for”, says Jens Hagman.
Robustness, the ability to withstand attacks, is perhaps the first that comes to mind when talking about resilience, but flexibility is as important.
“Obviously, it’s better to have a robust rather than a fragile system. However, resilience is also about adaptation and recuperation if, or when, the system crashes. A system that is flexible can go back to a functional status much faster than a rigid one”, says Fran.
Whose responsibility is resilience?
A resilient society involves many cooperating actors, which inevitably raises questions concerning responsibility. Something that might seem easy on paper can, in reality, become ambiguous when facing a chaotic disruptive event.
“Since this is a very complex topic it’s important to have discussions and also work with case based scenarios, which is something we plan to do during this fall. We are very happy to see so many partners, together with Region Skåne, taking this matter so seriously”, says Jens.
Resilience – a threat to electromobility?
Can increased concerns for resilience become a threat for the implementation of electromobility?
“When facing uncertainty, it can be easy to fall back on existing knowledge and habits. So, there is a risk, but you can also see this as an opportunity to create a more resilient society. I would say that for Sweden, with all its potential for e-mobility, it’s better to take advantage of its strengths,” says Fran.