A CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

A CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE FIT FOR THE CITY

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE BROUGHT THE VISION OF A SOCIETY WITH ACCESS TO LOW-EMISSION, URBAN PRIVATE TRANSPORT WITHIN REACH – BUT WHERE IS THE NECESSARY INFRASTRUCTURE?

TEXT: Steve Kalthoff

Future-oriented mobility concepts at municipal level increasingly favour a highly diverse mix of sustainable solutions. The focus here is always on making the city of the future a place that offers a better quality of life, while also taking the mobility demands of a liberal

society into account.

© Qwello (2)

Combining traffic calming in city centres, the further development of pedestrian zones, the urgently required extension of cycle path networks and the necessary expansion of shared mobility services will create attractive city centres where people can live and thrive. Sustainable private transport options or flexible sharing services are at the interface between micromobility, such as scooters or e-bikes, and local public transport. Both enable mobility on demand and thus combine the attractiveness of mobility with the urgent need for it to be environmentally acceptable.

Making the case for the market economy

All these measures – coupled with the grid upgrades required by the energy transition and the expansion of renewable energies – call for fast, efficient and targeted action at regional and municipal level. In this context, it is important to optimise the use and allocation of the available budgets, even outside the existing funding framework.

The development of Qwello’s charging infrastructure service has therefore always focused on a participatory solution for the installation of charging infrastructure in public spaces. Today, the central idea is to support this process and to maintain or even expand the options available to cities to take action by having private-sector investment capital take over the roll-out without affecting public budgets. As part of its concept for public spaces, Qwello offers a complete financing package through investments as well as the construction and operation of municipal charging infrastructure.

Helping e-mobility to become established

The present public debate is very much centred on the availability of charging infrastructure, and the anticipated exponential growth in new registrations of electric vehicles means that the role of cities and municipalities is becoming increasingly important. Their ambition and goal is to offer the use of modern, sustainable and high-quality infrastructure, not only to local residents but also to those visiting the city for tourism or business – and competition with other regions in the country or internationally is an additional factor that should not be dismissed.

The democratisation of e-mobility

Cities and those charged with developing neighbourhoods also want to offer a suitable means of participating in the mobility transition to the large number of urban users who don’t have the option to charge their vehicles at their place of work or at home via a garage wallbox.

Only a minority of all employees in Germany have access to a company car park, and even fewer have a charging facility on their employer’s premises. Similarly, fewer than half of all Germans own a home with its own parking space and thus the possibility of having a private wallbox – which in most households would in any case have to be shared by several vehicles. Developing public charging infrastructure therefore also makes an effective contribution towards improving the inclusivity and democratisation of the mobility transition that is taking place.

Smart design – by design!

In developing the comprehensive approach to building public charging infrastructure, the user experience has been deliberately placed centre stage. This has been hugely successful and widely approved by users, as is currently evident in Stockholm, Munich and Hamburg. Integration options in urban parking monitoring or traffic guidance systems as well as widespread 5G coverage through small cells are preparing the ground for future developments.

A well-thought-out pricing concept also makes the best use of what is currently still a scarce resource: charging infrastructure. It requires onethird fewer charging points – freeing up space in the urban environment and marking another step towards the smart city of tomorrow.

Visit Qwello at stand A014 in hall 1.2.

STEVE KALTHOFF is Director of Marketing & CRM at Qwello GmbH. As part of his role, he is also a member of the German Association of Energy and Water Industries’ (BDEW) charging infrastructure project group, an expert committee for the association’s work on preparing the BDEW’s future positions regarding public infrastructure. Kalthoff holds a degree in economics and for many years managed the Marketing, Service and New Business division of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and companies in the Burda media group. In 2010, he founded and became the Managing Director of the German arm of a London-based international premium service agency, where he was responsible for building up the German business, serving clients such as Deutsche Bank, Porsche and Audi.

ABOUT QWELLO Founded in Munich in 2017, Qwello builds and operates charging infrastructure in public spaces. The company bears the entire investment cost of setting up and operating the charging infrastructure independently of subsidies within the framework of a concession model agreed with individual cities. Large-scale infrastructure roll-out has already begun in Stockholm and Frankfurt – but the company’s charging points, which are both visually attractive and extremely user-friendly, can also already be found in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin.

QWELLO Münchner Technologiezentrum Agnes-Pockels-Bogen 1 80992 München Germany

Steve Kalthoff +49 89 954 59 59 40 ska@qwello.eu www.qwello.eu