The upgrading of public space offers great potential. Curbs and lanterns might be upgraded to charge points in the future.
From the point of view of electromobility, a sound barrier was broken this autumn. According to Statistics Austria, more than 100,000 purely electrically powered vehicles were registered in Austria for the first time in September. However, this fundamentally positive message also calls the critics of e-mobility into action.
Acute lack of public charging stations
After all, there is already an acute shortage of publicly accessible charging stations in many metropolitan areas. While the switch to battery-electric vehicles usually works without any problems in everyday life, as long as you only have your own garage or carport including a wall box, the routine charging logistics pose problems for everyone who has to park their car on the side of the road or in short-term parking zones. As a result, these “lantern parkers” are forced to charge the batteries at public charging stations – with many disadvantages. As is well known, the costs there are many times higher than those of the wall box connected to your own house electricity. There is also the organizational challenge of finding a free charging point from the right provider with sufficient capacity at the right time and in the right place. Switching to larger quick-charging parks on the outskirts of town is not an attractive option for many consumers for reasons of time and money.
In the best case, the question arises as to how the loading time should be used most sensibly. There are plenty of ways to pass the time at charging points in shopping centers or supermarkets. However, particular mischief in the form of angry fellow human beings awaits those who block such popular charging options beyond the immediate charging activity. In short, the everyday life of electrically mobile fellow human beings is full of hurdles, at least compared to that of fossil-fuelled contemporaries who simply fill up their cars at the nearest gas station. The sum of these obstacles means there is a risk that the ramp-up of electromobility in metropolitan areas will stall before it has really started.
There is hope for a simpler everyday electric life
An innovative solution comes from the German technology group Rheinmetall. The so-called charging curbs were recently presented at the “VDE E-Mobility Conference” conference. By installing the necessary charging electronics, normal kerbstones actually become a charging station – but without causing the restrictions associated with a charging station for other road users. This is because there is a shortage of free space in inner-city areas in particular, so that the construction of new charging infrastructure is usually only possible at the expense of other interest groups in the street space.
In fact, the system was developed under the premise of reducing the intrusion into public space to a minimum. The disadvantages of existing charging options – high space requirements, low point density, high costs and negative effects on the cityscape – might be avoided in this way. In addition, e-vehicles might be charged with it without having to lay long charging cables over or along sidewalks. Another advantage is that the system can be easily retrofitted and maintained. This makes it possible to prepare entire streets or parking lots for the integration of loading curbs. This allows synergies to be achieved in terms of planning, construction work and, last but not least, approval, which in turn reduces the overall costs. Specifically, “dummy curbs” – i.e. functionless placeholders – can first be installed at the respective locations. The electronic module can subsequently be retrofitted as soon as the need for charging points increases at the location.
The strategy of using the existing power lines along the streets is also being pursued by the start-up Ubitricity. The company, which was founded in Berlin in 2008, has been a 100 percent subsidiary of the mineral oil company Shell since 2021 and has specialized in the integration of smart charging devices in street lamps. Although the proportion of “lantern parkers” is particularly high in Berlin at around 80 percent, Ubitricity was able to celebrate its first successes in England of all places. The charging street lamps have already been successfully tested in the London districts of Hounslow and Richmond. Hundreds of charging lanterns have also been set up in Oxford in recent years. With currently more than 5000 charging points, the Berliners operate the largest public EV charging network in Great Britain.
For the German market, the charging solution first had to be adapted to the applicable laws. The offered charging point called “Heinz” now corresponds to the German calibration law. After Ubitricity recently won the tender for the construction of a charging infrastructure on Berlin street lamps, the first 200 charging points will be installed by the end of the year. Once in operation, the converted lanterns can be charged at a rate of up to 3.7 kW using a type 2 charging cable. Since street lamps are now equipped with much more economical LED lamps across the board, the electricity saved can then be used to charge e-cars. This relatively low power is put into perspective by the fact that most cars stand still 23 hours a day and PHEVs usually cannot charge any faster. A smart charging cable with an integrated electricity meter is required. Payment is made at the end of the month by direct debit.