October 2019: Planning charging infrastructure:
Where can charging columns be operated economically?
Electric mobility is on the rise. All major vehicle manufacturers are massively expanding their model ranges to include electric vehicles. A significant increase in the number of e-vehicles is desired and expected in terms of environmental policy. The charging infrastructure must of course keep pace with this, so that the e-vehicles can also be charged in public areas.
However, the installation of publicly accessible charging points is sometimes associated with considerable expense. This raises the question for installers and operators: Will these investments pay off? The return depends on two aspects: On the one hand, the installation costs and, on the other, the future utilization of the charging point. There is often a great deal of uncertainty about both aspects.
The actual costs of setting up a charging point are largely determined by the connection costs to the power grid. However, these can vary by far more than 100% depending on the location. However, this cost information is usually not available to the installer of the charging point at the time of deciding on a location. Instead, he must obtain this cost information from the grid operator. And that takes up to 2-3 months in some cases. However, the inquirer does not learn that the same charging capacity could be provided at another location in the immediate vicinity for half the cost, for example. The possibility of being able to significantly reduce the connection costs by adjusting the simultaneity factor for several charging stations is also often not available.
On the other hand, future utilization, which can be estimated over many years, is determined by many factors. In addition to socio-demographic aspects and traffic density, planned charging points of competitors also play a role.
In this mixed situation, Localiser, as the first web-based planning platform, offers a fast and uncomplicated way of communication for all parties involved. In the process, locations can be optimized according to both future utilization and costs. Localiser thus creates the conditions for assessing and optimizing the economic viability of planned charging infrastructure.