Electromobility at Mobility
1’1500 custom solutions on the road to emission-free mobility
17.11.2023
At least six months: This is how long it takes for Mobility to electrify a car park and put it into operation. The technical implementation is the smallest challenge.
Mobility’s aiming to electrify its entire vehicle fleet by 2030. That’s 3’000 vehicles spread across 1’500 locations nationwide Customers already have access to e-vehicles throughout Switzerland, And the number is steadily increasing: “Soon we will be the 500th Electric station into operation,” announces Pascal Barth. The 34-year-old electrical engineer is responsible for organising and implementing the charging infrastructure at Mobility. Not an easy job with 1500 stations. “Converting the existing infrastructure is a Herculean task.”
Plenty of experience with car sharing, but…
To achieve its ambitious goals, Mobility is also investing in its workforce. “We have a lot of experience with car sharing, but not so much when it comes to e-mobility,” says Barth. That said, the situation is steadily improving: recent years have seen the cooperative recruit specialist electricians, and its area managers and other roles are also being trained up.
Mobility wants not only to get its workforce up to speed, but also the people and organisations who own the parking spaces. “Converting Mobility stations to accept e-vehicles is particularly challenging because we don’t own any of those spaces. We’re merely tenants,” explains Barth. It means that Mobility cannot decide unilaterally whether and when a parking space is converted: “We are dependent on the goodwill of the owners for this project.” And Mobility often has to work for this. The main reason for this is that just as Mobility is investing a lot of money in its new e-fleet, it is also not free of charge to upgrade parking spaces. The cost per location varies between 700 and 20’000 francs – money that typically has to be coughed up, at least in part, by the owner.
Six months per parking space
Mobility will be conducting negotiations with some 1’000 owners over the next few years. These can be private individuals or companies, public authorities and organisations. “Our interlocutors range from state-owned enterprises to simple home owners,” says Barth. Or to put it another way: “We have 1,500 stations – and therefore 1,500 special solutions.” Compared to a conventional car park, the realisation of an electric station is therefore far more complicated and time-consuming. This is reflected in the length of time it takes Mobility to acquire a parking space for electrification. In the case of a conventional space, it usually takes four weeks from initial contact with the landowner to delivery of the Mobility vehicle. For electrified spaces, Mobility currently reckons on that process taking at least six months to complete – some six times as long.
Technology the least of the challenges
“Some contract partners really welcome having their parking spaces electrified. Others are less enthusiastic,” says Barth. This is understandable: the conversion comes at a cost for owners. If Mobility reaches an agreement with the rental company, various investments are to be made: These include, for example, the procurement of the charging station and the installation and commissioning of the charging infrastructure. Usually, the station owner provides the grid connection, while Mobility installs the charging station. “We do our best to make the conversion as cost-effective as possible,” says Barth. Ideally, the e-parking space should be close to a building “Then we can use the existing outputs to tap the energy.” This is not a big deal from a technical point of view. “Pulling a cable and then attaching a charging station is relatively quick.” The challenges in terms of financing and micro-project management are much greater. After all, the amount of maintenance required for an electric car park is limited. “We carry out a basic maintenance intervention once a year, plus a comprehensive inspection every five to ten years, which is mandatory for electrical installations located in the public realm.”
“Nothing will deter us from achieving our goal.”
While between 100 and 200 car parks have been converted each year in the past three years, the curve is set to rise sharply in the coming years (see chart). “At the moment, we are still in the build-up phase, but from next year we will be able to accelerate fully,” emphasises Barth. “We’re currently focussing on the largest and most frequented locations.”