Bratislava, 17 September 2018
Electromobility. A topic that seemed like science fiction just a few years ago is now attracting a lot of interest from people and the media. Within ENGIE, the promotion and development of electromobility is part of decarbonisation and therefore one of the main pillars of the 3D strategy (digitisation, decarbonisation, decentralisation).
The ENGIE Group entered the EV charger market in 2017 through the acquisition of EVBox and later EVTronic, leaders in the number of devices delivered and installed (60,000 conventional AC chargers and 700 ultra-fast DC chargers). The companies provide services in more than 45 countries around the world, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Norway, where electromobility is more developed and charger coverage is much higher compared to Slovakia. In our conditions, we have so far encountered electric vehicles mainly in the context of in-house reference vehicles, which companies use to demonstrate their intention to reduce the burden on the environment. The coverage of public chargers is gradually increasing, but given the still relatively high prices of EVs and the poor infrastructure of charging stations, there is still a lot of room for development.
Not just hardware, but also service
Although the know-how of the Slovak ENGIE comes from the parent company, the company already has several successful references. The first inquiries for installation and service of electrical charging equipment came during the last year, followed by the first implementations for corporate clients this year.
“Our pilot projects in the field of electromobility have so far been mainly related to the supply and installation of hardware, or the supply of basic charger service. But we can provide much more to potential customers. Thanks to the EVERON software platform, which is developed directly by ENGIE’s parent company, we can connect any charger with the required protocols to our control room. This allows us to control the devices remotely – to check their status, receive fault reports, optimise charging and so on. So we can cover the service called Charge Point Operator and, together with the installation and servicing of the charger, provide the client with added value in the form of this service, which is in great demand in other European countries,” explains Michal Trnovský, Director of the Development Division, ENGIE Services. The provision of services in the field of electromobility is a confirmation of the company’s progress in innovation and the use of modern technologies. The installation and servicing of electric chargers extends ENGIE’s service portfolio and provides clients with added value in the form of synergies between various services in the field of energy, technology installation or technical property management. The nationwide coverage of the network by service technicians and the international and local know-how in this area only prove that ENGIE is serious about promoting electromobility in Slovakia.
Application for the end customer
In addition to the EVERON software platform, which primarily covers the needs of the service provider, ENGIE also offers the SMATCH software, which may be of interest to end clients. It exists in the form of an application that clients can install on their mobile phone, for example. They can then search for charging stations by price or charging location, giving the provider greater possibilities to optimise the electricity supply, which can be a significant benefit for the provider in the normal operation of the charging station.
Electromobility in the near future
One of the directions that electromobility can take in the future are activities similar to ENGIE’s pilot project called the Car-sharing Project. The main idea and goal is the sharing of reference vehicles (EVs) by employees of municipalities or companies. The project promotes eco-friendly transport and helps to streamline the operation of the use of company cars in companies. ENGIE carries out the demanding operational tasks to ensure the functioning of the whole system.
“From a technological point of view, the trends will be towards increasing battery capacity and decreasing battery prices, which will certainly have a positive impact on the final prices of electric vehicles. Electricity grids are almost everywhere, and it should therefore be relatively easy to create a functional network of EV chargers and make electromobility even more affordable and attractive. However, the question remains as to how battery capacity will be increased and whether a more efficient concept on a completely different basis will not be forthcoming. In the meantime, innovators are also creating various combined solutions, increasing efficiency or using renewable energy sources, such as chargers connected to solar panels. Further innovations will probably not be long in coming,” reflects Michal Trnovský. Electromobility certainly has a future, and ENGIE is ready to address a wide variety of requirements from existing and potential clients – from simple installation and servicing of charging equipment to a sophisticated service in the spirit of the Charge Point Operator.
