You can be excited: At the company’s headquarters in the Haan | NRW Technology Park, EK now offers its customers and employees the opportunity to charge their e-cars, e-bikes or e-scooters. The eMH3 wallboxes from ABL are available, and the green power charging solution was developed by reev GmbH.
Electromobility is playing an increasingly important role for EK, and not just in the automotive sector. Our extensive product range includes components for power electronics such as stiffening and connecting plates, anti-twist devices and module holders. And we are continuing to go full throttle, pardon: full power, in this area. Among other things, we have developed the first prototypes for plastic-molded busbars, which are required for EMC filters in electric vehicles. These filters are used to protect sensitive electronics from power-related interference signals…. By expanding its range of products and services in the field of e-mobility, EK is responding at an early stage to its ever-increasing importance for the energy transition and the mobility transformation.
The steadily growing popularity and spread of electric drive in the vehicle sector can be seen not least in the growing number of e-car drivers among our customers and employees. In order to help the innovative technology achieve a breakthrough as quickly as possible, the “Ease of Use” is a decisive criterion, as a study by the management consultancy Oliver Wyman confirms.
Environmental scientist Susanne Haag said in an interview with the online portal swiss-architects.com: “Although people have now understood that e-mobility makes sense, what is now missing is a functioning infrastructure, including for charging vehicles at the workplace. After all, it makes more sense to charge cars during the day – when the electricity comes from photovoltaic systems – than in the evening or at night.”
EK is also convinced of this view – and with this in mind has installed wallboxes at its location in the Haan Technology Park.
Cooperation with reev and ABL – two German pioneers of e-mobility
The intelligent charging solution was implemented by the Munich-based company reev. The experts for intelligent, scalable and custom-fit charging solutions designed an infrastructure precisely tailored to EK’s requirements and needs. This comprises three wallboxes of the type eMH3 from the Franconian family-owned company ABL, each equipped with two charging points and powered by green electricity. The type 2 sockets are suitable for all electric vehicles on the market. The maximum charging power per wallbox is 22 kW. As a service for EK visitors, the batteries of their e-cars can be charged free of charge.
© Photo: EK
Electromobility: Figures, data, facts
The project partner reev has compiled interesting information on the development of e-mobility in Germany in 2022 in the blog on its website. Last November, for example, the VDA reported a new record for new registrations of electric cars: for the first time, more than 100,000 e-cars were newly registered, an increase of 50 percent over the corresponding month of the previous year. The 100,000 mark for new registrations was also exceeded in December 2022.
According to the Federal Network Agency, the number of publicly accessible charging stations in Germany has risen to a total of 70,751 charging stations as of October 2022. This is around 45 percent more than in the previous year. In order to achieve the target of one million charging points by 2030, the German government also adopted the Charging Infrastructure Master Plan II last October. The charging infrastructure is also to be expanded throughout Europe and charging made easier. To this end, the European Parliament wants to establish user-friendly and simple payment systems throughout Europe with the AFIR (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation).
A particularly important factor for the growth of electromobility in 2022 was the introduction of the GHG quota in Germany. The greenhouse gas reduction quota rewards e-car drivers and charging infrastructure operators with additional revenues of several 100 euros per year.