Grocery chain Feneberg and cleantech company Numbat are joining forces to offer supermarket customers the best charging option for e-cars in the future. This is why they are jointly building the necessary infrastructure and, for the first time, a comprehensive range of public fast-charging stations will be available in a rural region in 2022.
“As a sustainable supermarket chain, we are increasingly confronted with the challenge of having to offer our customers a way to quickly charge their electric vehicles while they shop,” says Nico Fischer, Head of Construction, Building and Energy Management at grocer Feneberg. “What matters most to our customers is fast charging, but for us it must of course also be economically feasible. The costs for installation, acquisition and operation, for example, are simply too high with the models currently in place.”
In fact, electromobility presents companies with major challenges because, as a look at the market shows, although the registration of e-vehicles is increasing rapidly, the installation of the necessary charging stations, in particular so-called fast charging stations or HPCs (high-power chargers), is making only slow progress. The main reason for this is the difficulty of connecting them to the power grid, as well as the high purchase and installation costs. The startup is leading the way with typical Allgäu pioneering spirit and can not only solve these problems with the combination of two technologies, but also establish the first fast charging network in Germany’s Allgäu region with an average of one fast charging station every 10 km.
“With Numbat, we have now found a way to implement the topic of ultra-fast charging stations as an offer for our customers on the one hand, and on the other hand, thanks to the integrated battery storage, we are able to store the PV electricity from our own solar plants and save electricity through the integrated energy management system. In this way, we manage to fully charge up to 2000 cars per year with our self-generated electricity in 10-15 minutes each. In addition, we have found a partner who cares just as much about sustainability as we do at Feneberg,” says Fischer. The innovative battery technology has patented, sustainable properties that make an important contribution to the energy transition. Installation at the sites is planned from Q3 2022, and preparations for this are underway.
The founders of Numbat, Dr.-Ing. Maximilian Wegener and Martin Schall, see themselves vindicated. “Our goal is to prove that fast charging columns can not only be created at highways or hubs, but through the combination of fast charging column and battery storage in combination with our technology, everywhere. Since our Numbats do not need to be connected to the medium voltage grid, we avoid interventions in the infrastructure and large construction measures such as transformer houses. We are pleased to take on a certain pioneering role together with Feneberg and are convinced that our model will be relevant for the whole of Germany, as more rural regions in particular are often forgotten when it comes to fast charging.”
One thing the young startup has already proven: As of today, this cooperation is building the most comprehensive fast-charging network in Germany.
