Residential charging and the role for installers
If private EV owners have their own garages, driveways and-off road parking, hooking up to the electricity network is reasonably straightforward. But what if you have no off-road charging potential and your vehicle is parked on the road whenever it’s not in use?
On-street charging facilities must be considered as part of the wider planning, design and implementation approach outlined in the previous section (Public infrastructure for EV charging). Consumer education will always play an important role, with information about becoming a prosumer (generating and using renewable electricity at home, for example from rooftop PV) easy to access.
Our solar trade team notes that this element of the EV market is a huge growth area for them, with demand growing rapidly, particularly from private individuals and users, and small businesses. In Germany, the new coalition government has set a new objective to have at least 15 million electric cars on the roads by 2030 as part of its shift towards climate neutrality. Key to this goal is the ramping up of EV charging infrastructure.³⁴
There is also a huge opportunity for developers and builders of new homes to incorporate smart charging in their designs. There are still too many new homes coming on to the market where adding a plug-in charger unit would have been so easy to include and yet has been missed off the list of standard ‘fixtures and fittings’. If we want to normalise EV ownership and make it a truly accessible option, why are we not ensuring new developments rise to the challenge?
Architects and developers could also be thinking about the installation of solar panels on all new homes – these, along with EV charge points, could pave the way for more individuals to become a part of the prosumer energy revolution, with the chance to generate their own electricity, use it to charge their EVs and other home appliances, and sell any excess back to the grid.
Developers need to be demonstrating much more ambition and drive in this area – and governments need to find better ways of encouraging them to make the most of the opportunities and ensuring grid connections are available for EV infrastructure. Regulation and incentivisation both have a role to play.
Step up, installers!
The increasing appetite for EV charging and associated generation sources provides a great opportunity for installers that are active in either the commercial or residential markets. There is a growing need for businesses with the skills and experience needed to install and maintain not only charging points, but also linked on-site PV solutions such as rooftop panels.
As this is still a relatively new area, there will be a need for training and development of technicians, and smart organisations will recognise and grasp this business opportunity. Not only will developing expertise in installing EV charge points and rooftop PV provide companies with longer-term income streams, it will also provide excellent employment and career prospects for the workforce.
It is an area BayWa r.e. is already active in, with its European warehousing facilities also offering training and support for installers – equipping them with the knowledge and technical skills they need to specify the correct systems for customers, and to safely and efficiently fit and maintain them.
The company has also launched the first manufacturer-independent home energy management system (HEMS) Sonniq, complete with its own green electricity flat rate Sonniq+.
This offers residential customers a new digital energy solution comprising a solar PV system, storage unit, energy manager and an app. It offers them the option of a home charging station for their electric vehicle and a cloud-based electricity product as a flat rate.
A pan-European roll-out of this kind of smart ‘out of the box’ solution could be key to helping drivers make the switch to eMobility, providing everything that’s needed, with transparent pricing and affordability.
This, allied to the ability to charge your EV at work, as well as the availability of public charging networks, will make owning an EV a much more attractive and easy option.
“There clearly are challenges. In Belgium, for example, we have different grid types, and they aren’t always compatible with a charging station. You often have small grid connections, which means you don’t have much power to recharge your car. Sometimes, with the small grid connection, you even have parallel loads, so you need a kind of load balancing.
The good thing is that the demand for EVs is growing, and this will drive the desire for home charging – which will in turn stimulate a market for domestic installer capability.
Installers will need to have a good training in and understanding of the different systems. So the simpler we can make the technology, the better. They might be a little nervous about the technology and the new skills they’ll need, but in our experience, installers are keen to grasp the opportunities.”
Michael Johanns, Head of Product Management & Technical Sales, BayWa r.e. Solar Systems Sárl