The First Electric Car Charging Station in a German Car Parking Facility

However, Esslingen is now the first to provide electric car charging facilities. The first integrated electric car charging system in Germany was commissioned yesterday at the Pliensauturm parking facility in Esslingen. The speciality of the Charging station: The charges for the power are paid along with the parking fees.

We are the first to use this system in the Federal Republic of Germany, says Mr. Jürgen Brixner with a flourish, who is the operator of the parking facility at Pliensauturm, and Mr. Eckhard Roleff, proprietor of the garage. They had sent out invitations for a small presentation on 24th August 2010 of the car charging station, which has been installed near the main entrance on the ground floor. In order to test the charging station on a live object, employees of the Smiles-Center Neckar-Alb had specially travelled all the way from Hechingen with a prototype Tazzari Zero developed in Italy. Like all electric cars, this, too, had its own charging cable, whose connector disappeared into the charging station. However, it is unlocked only after inserting the parking ticket. The ticket reappears if everything is in place and the flap for securing the connector is closed. You can now take the parking ticket along with you for a stroll and when you return, you can pay the charges for the power consumed while charging along with the parking fees at the automatic pay station. Thus, there is only one payment step involved, explains Mr. Wolfgang Ueding. He is the Branch Manager of Scheidt & Bachmann, who manufacture electric car charging stations and who had launched the newly developed system in spring at the Intertraffic Trade Fair at Amsterdam. Mr. Brixner has responded to it immediately, and, thus, this is the very first time that an integrated system has been installed at a parking facility here in Esslingen in Germany, and perhaps, anywhere else in the world, emphasises Mr. Peter Schneck, Managing Director of Scheidt & Bachmann. When the electric cars, whose deployment is presently being propagated by the Federal Government, become popular and widespread, the parking facility is the ideal place to tank (charge) up.

Moving ahead

Mr. Jürgen Brixner is convinced that you need to move ahead. And since electro-mobility has a future, the investment made by the owner of the parking garage in the electric petrol pump is a good and wise one. However, the parking facility operator concedes that it would have been better if the charging station had been fed with power from renewable energy sources. We have also already contemplated on installing a photovoltaic plant, he reports. And Esslingens first mayor, too, Mr. Wilfried Wallbrecht, had come to the Pliensauturm parking facility. After all, that is where the first electric car charging station in the city has been installed. And he is pleased with the concept. This is a step in the right direction. It is hoped that the proportion of electrically operated vehicles regardless of whether they are two-wheelers or four-wheelers can be enhanced with time and, thus, emission of carbon dioxide can be reduced. Since the mayor is convinced about the fact that electro-mobility will gain a foothold in the next two to three years, he has taken a bet with the owner of the parking facility, Mr. Eckhard Roleff, that there would then be five parking slots available for electric cars.

Those who park in the Pliensauturm garage pay 50 cents for every 20 minutes or part thereof. If, in addition, you use the charging station, you pay 80 cents for 20 minutes.