We’re on our way And while the family is relaxing on the German island of Norderney or Juist, their electric vehicle is chilling at the charging station.
Brief summary
That sounds good, especially for the storm-hardened region of Lower Saxony: the largest electric vehicle charging park in the country has now been connected to the grid in the village of Norddeich. There are 264 charging points. At present, it is said to be the largest charging facility in the world. Ferry operator Frisia has spent 5.2 million euros on sustainable investment in climate protection and the mobility revolution.
Sascha Gliese, General Manager of Pramux and Timo Konieczny of Phoenix Contact at one of the charging stations in the Frisia ferry operator’s solar charging park
Vacation vibes, even at the charging station
From the point of view of charging technology and, above all, sector coupling, it is not just the charging park’s size that makes it special. What is more exciting is that cars can be topped up with energy over a long period of time. While the e-mobility industry usually discusses how vehicles can recharge their batteries as quickly as possible, the vehicles in Norddeich chill for days under the protective sloped roof of the charging station.
“This is real low power charging”, notes Sascha Gliese, General Manager of Pramux GmbH, with pride. The company based in Moormerland in the Leer District was awarded the contract to construct the charging park. Pramux has decades of experience in the design, electrical engineering, and above all application development of software for ticket and pay machines, power columns, charging stations, and barriers.
Intelligent charging management ensures that the electric vehicle is charged as soon as the vacationers return from the island
Ready to drive in time with gentle low power charging
Low power charging: The relaxed North German approach to low power charging is possible because the booking system, also developed by Pramux, knows how long vacationers’ vehicles will remain at the charging station. Consequently, there is also information about which guest is going to leave next – and expects to have a fully charged vehicle ready and waiting for them.
These pilot control options can be used to create an effective charging management system. Ideally, this will balance the supply of solar power with the energy requirements of the vehicles. The charging management system – i.e. the interface between the photovoltaic system and the vehicle – uses e-mobility technology from Phoenix Contact.
CHARX charging controllers from Phoenix Contact handle the charging process in the Frisia charging park
Four Charx type Phoenix Contact charging controllers are installed per station. They are linked via the internal Ethernet bus as a primary/secondary configuration. The primary controller is the interface for the charging park controller and the booking system.
The individual charge controllers in turn take over communication with the car “and negotiate how charging should be performed with what current and what power”, explains Timo Konieczny, Sales Engineer at Phoenix Contact. Data exchange between the vehicle and charging station takes place via the international communication standard OCPP – the Open Charge Point Protocol.
Solar power: As much as possible goes directly into the batteries
The charging management system is basically designed to charge vehicles primarily using the available solar power – without drawing significant power from the public grid. Nevertheless, for redundancy and security of supply, the charging park is connected to the 20 kV medium-voltage grid via a 2.4 MW transformer station.
However, Sascha Gliese expects that the volume of electricity purchased from the public grid will be kept to a minimum, since around 80 percent of the solar power should find its way into vehicle batteries. With an output of 1.7 MWp, the PV surface on the sloped roofs is generously dimensioned. The forecast annual yield is expected to supply 1.6 million kWh of green electricity.
Ferry operator Frisia considers the forecasts for the expected energy quantities per charging process to be robust, as the company has already gained experience with a good 20 charging stations over a period of two years. “We used 60 kWh as the basis for the charging park design”. says Sascha Gliese.
Olaf Weddermann of Frisia relies on the triad of sustainability, digitalization, and mobility
The all-in parking spaces on the pier
Visitors who want to charge their car on the North Sea coast near Norderney and Juist don’t need to worry about an expensive bill for full charging at the end of their vacation or excessive kilowatt hour costs eating into their vacation budget after the fact. “We don’t sell any electricity”, explains Frisia board member Olaf Weddermann. He then describes what is meant by “flat rate charging”. For practical processing, from the point of view of vacationers, this means that the energy quantity is “all in” when booking the parking space. “Our business model is to rent out the parking space. That’s why we don’t need to worry about whether the charging stations are calibrated or not”.
Anyone who has the opportunity to talk to Olaf Weddermann regarding climate protection, sector coupling, and new approaches in mobility will learn that the company is far from being a “service station operator”. Rather, all measures for effective sector coupling are aimed at sustainably strengthening the entire value chain for tourism. The “Frisonaut” booking and tourism portal is a central element in this concept. The digital solution provides a comprehensive interface to the digital needs of island visitors – especially with regard to the purchase of ferry and bus tickets as well as other services, right through to booking holiday apartments. “Sustainability, digitalization, mobility – this triad underpins our business purpose”, he emphasizes. “We have to get away from fossil fuels”.
E-catamaran extends sector coupling
With this goal in mind, electrification in mobility is going even farther this year – and taking to the water. The Frisia board member says 2.4 million people travel to Norderney every year via the Wadden Sea. Plus, there are 360,000 people who travel to Juist. Most use the ferry, but a few take the plane: In order to balance the needs of climate protection and tourism, an e-catamaran will be put into service this year.
Olaf Weddermann notes that this twin-hulled ferry built in the Netherlands will be the first passenger ship of its kind on the German seas. When the ship docks in Norddeich, the battery units need to be charged quickly. The catamaran also draws its energy from the charging park. The cable that runs to the charging facility has already been laid. When the e-catamaran reaches the pier for ferry traffic to Norderney, the charging park management system has already taken the connected cars off the grid. The renewable energy that is freed up then flows into the ferry batteries.
Summary
“Projects such as Frisia’s new charging park are impressive testimony to the fact that climate protection and cost-effectiveness work in harmony”. This quote from Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economic Affairs Olaf Lies aptly describes the advantages of sector coupling within an All Electric Society – i.e., a society that covers 100 percent of its energy requirements from renewable sources.
“Lower Saxony is Germany’s energy hub and is therefore also setting many trends in the mobility and climate transition”. emphasized Lies at the opening of the charging park in the spring of 2024. “This is why we need to pursue a reliable policy in the transport sector in particular and continue on the path we have taken in terms of e-mobility”. In Lower Saxony in particular, such projects are expedient, because there is enough renewable energy from the sun and wind – and this is, Lies says, a real location advantage for companies in northern Germany.
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