Lithuania
Initial Ecodriving situation in the country
In 2010 the first activities of ecodriving trainings for licensed drivers have started in Lithuania. Before that
no major activities have been taking place except for eco-rally which was organized annually since 2003 and
some occasional events arranged by car dealers and other organizations.
The first Eco-rally was organized in 2003 by public company „Saugus
ratas“. The longest 563.7 km rally took place in 2006. That year the same
route was also driven by bicycles. The main goal of the rally was to use the
least amount of fuel to drive the defined route.
On 23 October 2010 “Vilnius CO2 Green Drive” event took place in
Vilnius. During the parade of newest and most intriguing electric vehicles
they were equipped with colour coded GPS tracking devices and painted a
huge “CO2” sign above Vilnius.
Vilnius CO2 Green Drive route
Before the ECOWILL project there was only one organization in Lithuania which provided Ecodriving
trainings for licensed drivers - EcoDrive Academy, partners and the main sponsors of which was JSC
„Autobrava“ (FIAT representative in Lithuania) and magazine about cars „AutoBild“. Academy provided
trainings both for the private persons and for the companies. Trainings consisted of theory and practical
driving trainings. Training courses were divided into 4 levels. The first level is dedicated for teaching basics
of ecodriving. Other levels included deeper theoretical knowledge and development of practical abilities. The
first level of trainings was provided free of charge.
Launch of ECOWILL in Lithuania
ECOWILL project in Lithuania brought together different stakeholders from all levels: policy makers,
driving instructors, examiners and licensed drivers willing to develop their
Ecodriving skills. Main objective of the project was integration of
Ecodriving principles and content into the national driving school
curricula of Lithuania. For this task 12 highly qualified instructors were
certified by master trainers from DVR (Germany) at "Train the Trainer"
activity within the project. Further on, these 12 Lithuanian master trainers
provided trainings for 24 more driving instructors from 6 cities of
Lithuania. The trainees obtained the ECOWILL certificates that allow
offering short duration Ecodriving lessons for licensed drivers.
Short Duration Ecodriving Training (SDT)
500 SDTs in four biggest cities of Lithuania - Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai - were provided during
the period of May - October 2012. Trainings were free of charge for
clients. Driving school Ecodriving.LT, COWI's subcontractor, was main
organizer of practical trainings. 98% of trainings were provided with
Toyota Auris, 1,4 l petrol engine, with manual transmission. Primary
clients were fleet drivers from both public and private
sector companies, who were addressed with such
messages as costs, CO2 and safety. Majority of
trainees, especially fleet drivers from state institutions
(Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Environment,
Vilnius Municipality), were surprised by their own results and by fact that just in one
hour significant amount of fuel savings can be achieved. All the SDT participants
received ECOWILL SDT certificates, stating the date of training and Ecodriving
principles learned.
ECOWILL changes people's minds
ECOWILL increased awareness and changed attitude of trainees towards Ecodriving. 57 per cent of
respondents to the question "Has the [SD] training changed your opinion on ecodriving?" answered yes,
it has changed to positive. Interest in and success of SDT in Lithuania was so high that in the end of SDT
period the demand for SDT exceeded number of trainings foreseen.
Successful campaigning in the internet
ECOWILL ideas have reached a large group of Lithuanian society:
licensed drivers, state institutions, academic society and general
public. Among different ways of campaign, including leaflets,
brochures, articles in journals and publications in the Internet, the
greatest success was noted in social website Facebook. Posts with the
quizzes counted for 144 likes and 178 shares. As a result of Facebook
activity, a publishing house contacted COWI with the proposal to
include Ecodriving chapter into their newest edition of the Road
Rules.
Optimistic perspectives of Ecodriving in Lithuania
In February 2013 a steering group of stakeholders of ECOWILL met in the Ministry of Transport and
Communications to discuss integration of ECOWILL principles and content into the driving school curricula
and examination. The meeting brought together policy makers, representatives of driving schools and
examination authority. All the participants of the steering group have been involved in the project activities
from the very beginning of the project and showed a very positive attitude towards further implementation of
ECOWILL principles. Examination authority demonstrated their high preparedness for the new requirements
and ensured that Ecodriving would be included in the test already in autumn 2013. New teaching programme
for the instructors and learner drivers is in the final stage of preparation.
Project partner
COWI Lietuva, UAB
Jolanta Žaltkauskienė
Phone: +370 652 60098
E-mail: [email protected]
www.cowi.lt
COWI Lietuva, UAB (former COWI Baltic), a 100% subsidiary of COWI A/S, was established in February
1996 as a result of the expansion of COWI's activities in Lithuania starting as early as 1991. COWI Lietuva
has the main office located in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, and a well-established regional offices
located in Kaunas, the second largest city of the country, and Klaipėda.
COWI Lietuva’s experience covers 20 years of close co-operation with international experts from COWI and
local partners, primarily in the fields of environment, including waste management, energy, design of
building engineering installations, construction supervision, transport etc. Our consulting engineering
services have been provided to the satisfaction of both, private clients and international financial institutions
as well as donor organizations.
COWI Lietuva is partner of ECOWILL project, representing Lithuania. COWI Lietuva is a leader of the
project part "Investigation and Preparations". It includes such tasks as: identification of multipliers in each
country; inventory of the state of play of ecodriving integration in driving school curricula, licensed drivers'
training and driver assessment, quality control and certification; determination of the promising approach
towards driving school instructors, examiners and learner drivers; identification of potential benefits for
relevant target groups.