Munich start-up Jolt Energy wants to operate fast charging stations in the milk run concept

Article menu

• Jolt Energy: Fast charging stations inspired by the power bank
• Current development status and test phase

The Munich start-up Jolt Energy has ventured a look into the future, especially at the charging infrastructure and how this could develop in the future. What initially sounds like science fiction is set to become reality in the coming year:

“Imagine: With our preferred supermarket or fast restaurant, a truck leaves with charging columns. With the loading crane two of the columns are packed and placed in the parking lot. As soon as the truck has disappeared, the first E cars are already on the “Merlins” and will be upgraded with up to 170 kW.”

Jolt Energy has set itself the goal of listening to the name Merlin in a first pilot project up to 120 such freely standing fast charging columns -. Thereafter, more lighthouse projects should follow in cities in Germany and the USA. Up to 2025 are up to 50.000 Merlin’s in Europe and the USA planned, depending on the development of the market. Particularly interesting should be the approach that the charging columns can be set up completely without connection to the power grid on each X-arbitrary seat.

Jolt Energy: Fast charging stations inspired by the power bank

This is achieved by the fact that the charging stations rely on many interconnected electric batteries, like those used in electric cars. Jolt Energy sees its own quick-charging station Merlin as a kind of power bank for the car: A power storage device is charged and can then – with a time delay – release this energy to a connected consumer.

The Merlins are charged at their own “Energy Center” charging stations, which are somewhere off the beaten track in the commercial area and have access to a 20 kVA line. Such a hub can “power up” many Merlins at the same time in a short time. He proceeds intelligently and only takes electricity from the grid if this is possible without any problems. However, such an energy center can also absorb current peaks in the grid and, if necessary, feed electricity back into the grid.

In the future, this could happen in the early evening hours in particular, when more and more electric cars are connected to home chargers. With the loading and unloading of the Merlins, a cycle is created – “milk run concept” – which is shown in the graphic at the beginning of the article.

Current development status and test phase

After extensive preparatory work, the “Merlin One” should be ready in Q1 2019. We work together with well-known international industrial partners. The international JOLT founding team consists of 12 employees, all of whom have many years of industrial experience in the areas of automotive, energy technology (“power engineering”) and IT and have management positions, e.g. B. at Siemens or in the VW group. The project not only includes the development of the actual charging station, but above all sophisticated IT and logistics, i.e. the transport of the Merlins between the Energy Center and their location, which will be necessary once a day at full capacity.

After testing the Merlin One, further projects in selected major cities are to follow in the summer of 2019. We are talking about 120 Merlins, which are used there. However, one is already certain that support and coordination by municipal authorities will play a major role. Advanced negotiations are already being conducted with restaurant chains, shopping centers, petrol station operators and car rental companies about the best parking spaces.

“We keep finding that potential site partners also see this as a good way to differentiate themselves from the competition and attract customers” – Maurice Neligan, CEO of JOLT Energy

The start-up has not yet commented on the roll-out in series. It just means that you can flexibly adapt to market demand. It is also conceivable to allow renowned industrial companies to produce and operate Merlins under license, e.g. B. in China, which has already become a pioneer in e-mobility.

From our point of view, this is an interesting approach to expanding the charging infrastructure. We cannot fully accept the “milk run concept”, as this causes an immense logistics effort, especially with a scalable system. Furthermore, the fast-charging stations would have to be transported from A to B at least with an electric truck or electric sprinter in order not to nullify the advantages of an emission-free everyday life.

Related articles

• Jolt Energy: Merlinone should solve charging crisis in the cities

  The Munich start-up Jolt Energy introduces the elementary component of its own Milkrun concept in the loading area with the Merlinon Quick Loading…

• VW: Outlook on mobile fast charging station

  Electric cars need to be charged to move on our roads. It is not always easy to set up a charging station where you may need it. The connection to the…

• Jolt: 500 ultra-fast charging stations in 500 days

  Not less than 500 ultra-fast charging stations in 500 days of wool Jolt as part of his chargemycle campaign bring to the street. More specifically, you…

• Fastned opens fast charging stations to REWE supermarkets

  Fastned, a European high-speed network for electric cars, has opened a quick charging station at the REWE Center at the Fernietta in Gieben (corner…

• Jolt Merlinone: Quick charging station use on Esso petrol stations planned

  The Jolt Merlin One is considered a combination of Powerbank and 320 kW fast loading column and should be found in the future on up to 40 ESSO inside…

• Fastned opens fast charging station in Schmidgaden on the A6

  Meanwhile, Fastned has put his fourth charging station in Germany. Already in September 2017, we have learned that Fastned , a Dutch company, who wants…

• ABB drives expansion of fast charging stations in Germany

  The energy supplier ENBW has given another major order to ABB to expand the fast charging stations to German highways. Until the end of the year, a total…

• South Korea: 3.000 new fast charging stations until the end of 2021

  South Korea intends to take 3000 new fast charging stations for electric cars by the end of this year to accelerate the spread of environmentally…

• Fastned build fast charging stations on France’s highway

  For Fastneds CEO Michiel Langezaal, it is clear that the loading of electric cars is “a sustainable business model”. This represents the European rapid…

• 144 Fast charging stations on the A8 – in the Sortimo Innovation Park Zusmarshausen

  Now it is officially the starting signal for Germany in the future largest and innovative fast -loading location is done. At the A8 arise in Sortimo…

Please follow and like us: