KVB, Rheinenergie and Ford take innovative charging infrastructure

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KVB, Rheinenergie and Ford take innovative charging infrastructure-charging

The Companies Cologne Traffic Companies (KVB), Rheinenergie and Ford have officially commissioned the innovative charging infrastructure of the “Muli” project in Bockmemund. With Muli (Multimodal Charging Module Integration) – is used, among other things, the braking energy of the light rail is used to load the Batterieussse of the KVB and at the same time car with electric drive.

The charging infrastructure consists of a charging station, a loading station for e-buses and two charging columns each with two charging points for electric vehicles. The charging station in turn is divided into a battery compartment and a medium voltage switching room. The car load is located in the area of the KVB stop “Bocklemund”, at which the light rail lines 3 and 4 and the bus lines 126, 143 and 145. The charging columns for electric vehicles are located on the ground floor of the directly adjacent P&R-plant.

In practice, the braking process of the city railing releases energy that is converted into electricity (recuperation). This current is stored in the charging station in six battery stacks and released for the charge of e-buses and electric vehicles. Due to the caching in batteries, voltage fluctuations are to be avoided. These would arise when road vehicles are loaded in the quick loading process and at the same time a light rail. Since the KVB is based on own information for the urban operation of the Rheinenergie, the electricity recovered by the recuperation is also the electricity electricity.

Stefanie Haaks, CEO of KVB: “We are awarded as KVB in the subject of climate and environmental protection in Cologne. We therefore enjoy our expertise in the development of innovative charging infrastructures in order to re-use the eco-electricity used for further means of transport by recovering and clever storage options for further means of transport. Such charming solutions could also find other applications with the experiences from the Muli project.”

In contrast to the previous charging infrastructure for the bus operation of the KVB, car batteries are used as a memory according to the press release. For this, Ford works have brought together a memory from six units each with 48 battery modules (a 20 single cells). The memories each have a weight of 700 kilograms, are 2.20 meters high, 1.20 meters wide, 0.60 meters deep and have an installed total storage capacity of around 300 kilowatt hours (kWh). They are embedded in an energy management system.

“Electromobility plays a significant role in climate protection. With flexible storage solutions such as muli, we can drive the expansion of the required charging infrastructure in Cologne even faster by using the existing power grid of the KVB. The technology also supports us to compensate for voltage fluctuations in the power nets, as it is created, for example, by the generation of volatile renewable energy, “says Dr. Dieter Steinkamp, CEO of Rheinenergie:

The aim of the project Muli is the demonstration of a charging system with integrated load modules for different vehicle classes. The system is designed in the core for the payload of battery suspensions. At the same time, the multimodal charged charging system is connected to different voltage levels of the alternating and DC (10 kV AC, railway DC). With the project the technical compatibility should be demonstrated.

The project budget comprises a total of around six million euros. Here is a promotion of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure according to the funding directive “on-site electromobility” in the amount of 1.87 million euros. From the subsidy, the Cologne traffic operations receive around 700.000 Euro for the project management and the acquisition of three e-buses. The RheinEnergie becomes around 980.000 Euro promoted for the construction and connection of the charging infrastructure. And the Ford works receive around 195.000 Euro for the construction of energy storage. In the conveyor processing, NOW GmbH – National Organization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology – and the PTJ Promoter Julich in the Research Center Julich are involved.

Muli fulfills requirements of sustainability

“With the project Muli meets the requirements of sustainability in different dimensions,” it continues. By building charging infrastructure in the area, the changeover of road traffic to electric drives is possible. This serves for climate and environmental protection as long as eco flow is used in the project. In particular, the conversion of the extensive car fleet is necessary to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The conversion of the bus operation of the KVB on alternative drives serve the objectives of the climate and environmental protection of the city of Cologne. With charging infrastructure according to the pattern of Muli, the construction of a part of the required charging infrastructure will be possible.

The use of car batteries in second utilization is ecologically useful. Thus, the raw materials contained in the batteries do not have to be recycled after mobile use in the car. Due to the “Second Life”, the investment cost of the batteries is compared for a longer service life. In principle, the acquisition costs for car owners will be reduced or possibilities of resale. This corresponds to economic sustainability. In addition, one gains time to improve recycling processes and to further minimize the ecological footprint.

The construction of the loading infrastructure in the area requires the extension of the general municipal power grid designed for the previous budget requirements. This will mean a significant financial and operational effort. Therefore, the use of the existing urban stalls of the light rail, to which after the blueprint of Muli loading infrastructure can be linked in mobility hubs, economically. It increases the value of the city rail infrastructure and avoids part of the further construction costs.

Publicly accessible charging infrastructure, like those in the P&R-plant Bockmemund allows for road users the payload of cars, even if they have no possibility in the environment of their apartment. Especially in the storey apartment building, in which tenant can not simply install wallboxes, this will allow the conversion of the means of transport without significant additional costs.

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