Meet our testbed: Copenhagen

Welcome to Copenhagen! In the capital city of Denmark, FLOW will test smart charging across a number of hubs in public and private charging stations. These sites allow for the analysis different consumption patterns, the quantification of the flexibility that can be extracted from each of them, and the testing of price or emissions-based charging or flexibility contracts.
Picture of Copenhagen, Denmark

Mattia Secchi, from DTU (Denmark Technical University) tells us more about it.

 

What are the main objectives of the Demo in Copenhagen? 

Here in Denmark, DTU is testing different smart EV charging solutions and flexible capacity contracts for public, semi-public, and private charging locations. With the help of Spirii, we are testing emissions-based charging in public parking lots, i.e. charging when the electricity is made without fossil fuel sources, and price-based charging in residential contexts, i.e. charging when it’s cheaper to do so. In a collaboration with EATON, we are adapting their building energy management system to optimise the charging of EVs in semi-public parking lots following renewable energy production. Finally, we are also testing, together with Spirii and the local DSO, the feasibility of flexible capacity contracts for charging point operators in urban parking lots. 

Who are you targeting? What are the main users involved? 

 In the Danish demo, we are targeting both public and private charging locations. The public ones are mostly located in parking lots close to working places, where the charging mostly happens between 07-08:00 and 16:00, so the target users are people that go to the office and leave their cars charging during the working hours. The residential chargers are located in single family houses instead, and this is a very interesting case study to us, as it seems that most people are already shifting their consumption at times when the electricity price is lower (after midnight). 

How do you engage with stakeholders to ensure ongoing support and collaboration? 

In the Danish demo, we are leveraging the support by Spirii to engage with residential chargers owners, so that we can get reliable information regarding their EV characteristics, and the offers they get from electricity retailers. Their experience with our smart charging solution will be checked through a survey after the demonstration ends. For public charging instead, we engage through post-charging session surveys they can fill, to gather their feedback and improve the process.

 

Can you share some key milestones achieved since the launch of the activities? 

So far, we completed the preliminary analysis for two of the four use cases we envisioned: the public working places one, and the domestic chargers as well. We analysed historical charging data provided by Spirii and are in the process of publishing our results in scientific journals. 

What challenges have you encountered during the implementation phase, and how have you addressed them?  

Our implementation journey has been relatively smooth, except for the task of developing a software interface to communicate with public chargers not originally designed for smart charging. However, we're actively seeking a solution to overcome this obstacle.

What lessons have you learned from the e-mobility project so far, and how do you plan to apply them moving forward?  

The project demonstration phase taught us that interoperability and controllability are not to be taken for granted, nowadays, and that the success of smart charging strategies highly depends on the external conditions, such as the pricing schemes, and the hardware limitations

FLOW needs you!
Complete our EV Users Survey

The potential of smart charging can only be fully exploited if many EV drivers choose to participate. That is why it is important to involve users in the development of new charging concepts right from the start. And this works best when (future) EV users are asked about their preferences. To this end, the TUC (Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany) has set up a questionnaire to evaluate your acceptance with the next generation of charging solutions. 

Take part in our short survey (10’)!

Who can participate?

Any individual driving an EV occasionally or regularly is welcome. 

What is the scope of the questionnaire?

The survey aims to assess mobility and charging behavior, as well as attitudes towards smart charging. 

What is the benefit of participation?

Sharing your views on smart charging can help to improve the next generation of charging concepts before their implementation. You can also become a test user at one of the demo sites in Menorca, Rome, Copenhagen, or Dublin. There you will have the opportunity to familiarise yourself with and test innovative charging concepts! If you are interested in our research, we will be happy to keep you informed about the survey and project results.