What does a perfect charging location for e-cars look like?

Recently we published a Whitepaper on the success criteria of charging locations . It states that in Bavaria in particular, charging locations from Allego GmbH are among the 20 most successful charging stations in terms of charging operations. Why is that so? We air in the following interview with Moritz Keck - Sales & Contract Manager in the DACH region at Allego GmbH - the recipe for success.

Moritz, how exactly do you define a successful charging location?

Moritz Keck: In principle, a successful charging location is a place where you can really charge e-cars consistently, safely and quickly. However, the speed is secondary for now. If the standing time of the vehicle is longer, then the charging power or charging speed can also be correspondingly slower. Suitable charging locations for this are a dedicated wallbox at home in the (underground) garage or at the parking space, as well as during working hours if the company offers so-called Workplace Charging for its employees.
If the standing time of the car is less, then the charging process should be faster. This can be along the highway, for example, or while shopping at the supermarket.

What is your recipe for success at Allego?

Moritz Keck: At Allego, we make sure that we have the appropriate charging speed at the appropriate charging location - so we always take into account the diverse use cases. For example, if you're driving along the highway, you might just want to make a quick stop to get to your destination as quickly as possible. Therefore, fast chargers at highway rest stops are useful and helpful if you want to continue your journey after a 15 to 20 minute break. Counterexample: If people drive to work, for example, and the private car or even the company car is parked in the company parking lot from morning to night, fast chargers are not needed. For this, a much lower and slower charging power, such as eleven kW (kilowatts) - which is what a classic wallbox does - is sufficient to fully charge the E-car by the end of the working day.

What criteria do you use to decide on a public charging location?

Moritz Keck: For charging locations in public spaces, there are simple criteria that we use. Mostly they are fast chargers, because there the cars are usually not as long as in the garage or at work. These charging locations are successful if they are conveniently located, easy to find, and offer enough charging points overall. If the demand for certain charging points is already high today, then of course more than one charging station is needed at those locations. Another important factor that we are increasingly pushing and also taking into account in our expansion is the quality of stay. This is actually crucial for a successful charging location, because most people will only come back if they can make good use of the stopover during fast charging. This includes, for example, being able to pick up a selection of coffees as well as snacks or visit the restroom. All of these amenities are needed in a well-functioning charging location. If a fast charging station is only located somewhere in a parking lot, but there are no other amenities around it, then it can quickly happen that no customers are attracted to this charging station. That's why the quality of stay will become an even more prominent quality feature in the future.

If, contrary to expectations, a charging location is not successful, do you close it?

Moritz Keck: If a location is not running successfully, we check whether there is a problem. This can be done remotely, that is, via our monitoring, because we have a view of it throughout Europe at our stations via our systems. This allows us to see, among other things, how many charging processes are taking place day and night and whether the numbers are collapsing somewhere. This can then in turn be an indicator that the charging station has failed and it is no longer running. Someone may have driven into it and it's damaged. We also sometimes have pragmatic or practical problems that are only seen on site or picked up through a customer report. These include construction sites where a dumpster has been left in the actual parking spaces for loading. The fried chicken truck in the supermarket parking lot that obstructs the loading space is also one of the classics. Therefore, as the responsible company, you also have to make sure that the loading area is free and clearly visible. When we open a new location, it's also about making sure that it can be found easily and quickly. To this end, it must be signposted, ideally with a signpost that is recognizable in wind and weather, and ideally also with lighting and conspicuous parking space markings. However, the charging station must not only be analog and thus real to find, but also digital, for example on Google Maps or Apple Maps. In addition, the charging location should appear at the common MSPs (Mobility Service Providers) - the charging card providers. In Germany, there are countless charging apps, so a good placement is enormously important so that the charging station is well found, frequently used and thus successful.

Is the topic of charging time becoming more important? How do you assess that - is there a lot of momentum in it?

Moritz Keck: Yes, momentum is a good keyword. In the last three to five years, a lot has happened in the fast charging context , i.e., charging time has become more and more important and it is also getting shorter and shorter, especially for fast chargers. For comparison, in 2016, we had a lot of 50 kW (kilowatt) chargers set up all over Germany. That was the highest level of fast charging at the time. It couldn't be any faster, and the vehicles were also more than well served by it, since very many cars were not yet even able to charge above 50 kW. Shortly thereafter, however, the first vehicles were on the market that could triple the charging power, i.e. 150 kilowatts and more. In the meantime, there are already the first ones that can take 200 or 300 kW. So not only is the ability of cars - both in the mid-range segment and increasingly in the entry-level segment in the future - to charge faster increasing, but more and more all-electric automobiles are appearing from various manufacturing companies. Fortunately, as the ability on the one hand and additionally the number of automobiles increases, these developments also have an effect on the expectation of the clientele. I.e., charging time is increasingly becoming a priority.
Thus, public charging points presuppose that you can charge quickly. Shopping time averages 20 to 30 minutes , ideally coming out of the supermarket with the car fully charged. This did not work in the past with the old fast chargers or with less charging power. In the future, however, it will work more and more, and this is also Allego's focus. For us, the fast charging topic is also where most of the revenue potential lies. The fast charging stations manage more charging operations per day than a classic AC charging station, where it takes perhaps four to five hours to fully charge a car. That's why the maximum utilization per day is only two to three cars, whereas a fast charging station can serve two to three cars in just one hour per cable or charging point. And then, of course, you end up with significantly more charging processes per day, which not only pleases the operating companies, but also the e-car drivers. Through fast charging, we can convert and sell significantly more electricity.

How will e-mobility develop in the coming years?

Moritz Keck: In my opinion, we still have room for improvement. Both on the charging station side, that is, the technology side, which lies with us as operators and with the manufacturers of the charging stations, as well as on the side of the vehicle providers. In the future, there will be more e-mobility in heavy-duty traffic, such as buses, trucks and lorries, in addition to the classic cars. A larger battery size and the cell chemistry used in the battery and cooling system will then enable a higher charging capacity. In addition, the price of electricity per kilowatt hour that can be charged in the batteries will drop. This is also ensured by the vehicle manufacturers of the various companies involved in battery research and production. Through the mass of battery production, the vehicle becomes cheaper and at the same time the performance of the vehicle increases. This effect leads to significantly higher demand on our side as well, and we as charging station operators have to respond accordingly. Thus, we successively expand the charging capacities with our network and build new charging stations into our network - which are more powerful - this is done through appropriate software or firmware. But it may also be that we upgrade some sites and actually replace charging stations that used to be fast chargers with new and more powerful hardware. So the developments are accelerating each other. It's nice to see that even our forecasts are then exceeded in some cases and that we have to upgrade in the charging network. And that is a good signal for the entire market.

Let's conclude by looking out into the world: Which countries can Germany learn from?

Moritz Keck: Whether charging station operators, providers or start-ups that are active in the E-mobility , all should dare to think outside the box, including vehicle manufacturers. Neighboring countries such as the Netherlands and Norway are good places to look. There, significantly higher sales and shares of e-vehicles are visible in the market. If we zoom out even further, for example to the USA or China, then we can of course already see how large the charging station market is there and how large it is also growing in Europe and will continue to grow. Let's take the city of Shanghai as an example. There, Tesla has a supercharter location with 72 charging points, all of which are high-capacity, and all of which are fast chargers that are also located in the underground parking garage. That's already the new normal there, and even there, the end of the line hasn't been reached yet. But also in California, in the United States, a high number of electric vehicles are already on the roads. And week after week, month after month, more are being added by many manufacturers. And there, too, there is a Supercharger from Tesla, which is just being completed with over 100 fast-charging stations. These are different dimensions - everything is bigger and further. But the trend in Germany is also moving more and more toward electric cars, and German car companies like Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW are also noticing the huge customer demand and responding with increased production. This in turn is leading to a Increase in e-vehicles and for that then it needs multiple charging stations . And we also see Tesla as a prime example in Germany, for example, there are 40 charging points on the A3 freeway in Oberhonnefeld between Frankfurt and Cologne.

The interview was conducted by Christoph Raithel, Team Leader Event at Bayern Innovativ GmbH.