20. May 2020
New test area for parking and charging of the future in the Smart Logistics cluster on the RWTH Aachen Campus
Aachen, May 20, 2020 – Tax advantages and a growing environmental awareness are making electric mobility increasingly attractive. The need for a well-developed charging infrastructure is growing accordingly. The centers Metropolitan Cities and Smart Commercial Building in the Smart Logistics cluster on the RWTH Aachen Campus are now taking this trend into account with the new “Smart Parking & Charging Campus” project. Together with S O NAH and MOON, as well as other partners in the future, demand-oriented operational charging and parking solutions are to be researched that will provide companies with simple and flexible access to electromobility and integrate various dimensions of energy and mobility use.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the charging stations on 11 May marked the start of the project. In the innovative environment of the Melaten Campus, directly behind the FIR at the RWTH Aachen and the centers in the Smart Logistics Cluster, a new charging infrastructure is being created with charging points from different manufacturers. It is the basis for the project and at the same time serves the “self-sufficiency” of the institutions located in the Smart Logistics Cluster. In live operation, future topics of cross-company integrated e-mobility are to be addressed and their testing made possible. These include classic questions on the development of an intelligent parking and charging infrastructure as well as on traffic and mobility concepts, such as operational mobility management and seamless mobility. At the same time, the opportunities arising from the combination of buildings, energy and charging infrastructure will also be investigated. These include, for example, the development of charging infrastructures for neighbourhoods, the testing of load management and the intelligent booking of resources.
“Smart Parking & Charging Campus” is an innovative living lab with which we are making a contribution to forward-looking, intelligent mobility. We want to enable every company to set up a charging infrastructure that meets the requirements of operators and users. At the same time, we are ushering in the “post-app era” with an overarching, integrative approach, i.e. the development of a talking infrastructure that does not require additional apps,” says Denis Krechting, Managing Director of Metropolitan Cities, explaining the project goals. Aleksander Cavlek, project manager in the Smart Commercial Building Center and head of the project, sees integration between different manufacturers as the key success factor for the breakthrough of charging solutions: “The neutral infrastructure in the Smart Logistics cluster on the RWTH Aachen campus has excellent conditions for bringing together the interests of different partners in a very small space. This makes the cooperation unique and ensures technically and economically relevant results”.
For example, the new charging infrastructure with direct connection to the facilities of the Industry 4.0 reference factory, the innovation labs and the theme park in the Smart Logistics Cluster offers ideal conditions for the live test operation of electric vehicles. It also enables the testing and further development of innovative concepts for integration into physical and digital infrastructures such as communication networks, neighbourhoods and buildings. Topics being investigated in this context include integration into operational systems, the development of customer interfaces, the use of renewable energies, license plate recognition, recognition of parking space and charging states, bidirectional charging and load management. The project is being implemented in several development steps. The aim of the first so-called “sprint” is to realise three use cases and a first functional product by the beginning of 2021.
Center Metropolitan Cities
The Center Metropolitan Cities was founded as part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region’s application for the 2032 Olympic Games. In order to promote society-changing innovations in urban areas, the Center bundles the necessary Competencies on the RWTH Aachen Campus and beyond. The aim is to develop an economically and ecologically sensible future concept for a metropolitan region networked through digitalization. The focus is on the development and testing of technical and social innovations in the fields of mobility, logistics, digital infrastructures and energy. The concerns of citizens, cities and municipalities, the public sector, politics, companies and research are the starting point for the consideration. In addition, the Center Metropolitan Cities is responsible for the content of the congress #neuland and its strategy boards. The congress is considered a platform for the interaction of all relevant stakeholders in urban space with the aim of developing and implementing new strategies for the future.
Center Smart Commercial Building
The Center Smart Commercial Building was founded in 2019 as part of the Metropolitan Cities initiative in the Smart Logistics cluster on the RWTH Aachen campus. Together with its members and customers, the Center Smart Commercial Building develops solutions for modern commercial real estate and thus opens up new usage and business models. The Center’s services are primarily aimed at project developers, real estate investors, operators and planners, as well as technology providers and software companies that focus on digital real estate. The Smart Commercial Building Center pursues these goals in cooperation with renowned international partners. Together, they examine how digital solutions can increase the overall productivity of buildings through optimized space utilization, how the quality of use can be improved and sustainability can be ensured. From 2020, the Center Smart Commercial Building, in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University, will offer continuing education programs that qualify property, asset and facility managers for their future tasks. Top-class speakers from business and science will impart both theoretical content and practice-oriented case study work.
Contact:
Aleksander Cavlek
Project Manager Smart Commercial Building
Project Manager Smart Parking & Charging Campus
Center Smart Commercial Building
c/o Metropolitan Cities MC GmbH
+49 241 47705-605
aleksander.cavlek@smart-commercial-building.de
Press contact:
Birgit Merx
Smart Logistics Cluster
c/o FIR e. V. at the RWTH Aachen
+49 241 47705-150
Presse@fir.rwth-aachen.de