Cologne hotel installs the first version of ebee charging points in compliance with German calibration law

• Therefore, the well-known Bender fault current monitoring with integrated type A RCD fault current measurement and an integrated DC 6 mA RCMB residual current measurement in the charge controller produces a significant cost reduction, because: The purchase of a type A or B RCD  in the sub-distribution system is no longer necessary.
• The Bender-ebee development team opted early on for the ISO 15118 standard, which defines a powerline communication via the charging cable (plug & charge) between the vehicle and the charging point. Charging authorisation without an RFID card is now just as possible as the future integration of the vehicle into network solutions. The latter will be indispensable in a future with a smart grid and volatile currents from renewable energy sources.
• On the other hand, the dynamic load management implemented using ebee charging points has met with great interest from car park operators and property project developers, because it keeps the costs for building mains connections within limits. DLM master/slave communication can be used locally, i.e. without a backend, to control up to 200 connectable slave charging points (via Ethernet or WLAN). The main installed power can be kept low by distributing the charging current intelligently over time, for example in car parks and underground garages. Even when expanding a previously existing charging point, mains connections can be kept constant. The available power is then distributed between the larger number of charging points dynamically and according to the needs of the vehicles. The external metering also offered by ebee rounds off the demand-driven variability of load management in the overall system.

• ebee attaches value to standard openness for backend operations: ebee charging infrastructure is compatible with all commercial backend solutions thanks to the Bender charge controller. Billing and charging point operation and maintenance can be handled conveniently from the office using the open OCPP protocol (currently 1.5 and 1.6 JSON/SOAP).
• ebee charging points can be flexibly adapted to local conditions even with regard to the technical communication between the authorisation receiver, charging points and the backend. Data connection can be either via 3G/4G modem, Ethernet, WLAN or even offline (without a backend connection) via RFID chip authorisation, or by local whitelist or FreeCharge. Charging point operators can therefore decide whether they want to define a closed loop of chargers or ensure public charging using backend operation with charging cards or direct payment. Earlier issues with charging card compatibility have almost been eliminated by systematic roaming.

Cologne City Hotel at the Roman Tower

The Bender and ebee developers seem to be on course with their technical and quantitative development. Whether intelligent energy control in the private smart home or public charging in the car park – the electric mobility of the future requires intelligent charging infrastructure.

By achieving German calibration law compliance, ebee has created the conditions for continuing to guarantee its own technical advantages within the scope of this regulation. The Cologne City Hotel at the Roman Tower will probably not need all the features right now, but the future can now unfold. Ultimately, with the installation of the two public charging points, the city hotel is making a contribution as a "co-designer of the urban transport revolution," explains Oliver Hummel, CEO of NATURSTROM AG, that supplies the stations with 100 percent green electricity.

Dipl. Pol. Peter Wilhelm, ebee smart technologies GmbH