Grenoble-Alpes (FR)
GRENOBLE-ALPES METROPOLE (GAM) is a metropolis gathering 49 municipalities and 450,000 inhabitants at the centre of a commuting area of 700,000 inhabitants. Due to its specific location surrounded by mountains and at the crossroad of three valleys, GAM has to manage important traffic congestion issues and air pollution.
There are around 800 EVs in GAM (around 9,000 in Rhône-Alpes in 2017) and the charging point network consists of 40 charging stations (14 fast at 50kW DC and 26 at 22kW AC) and 120 stations for car sharing that need to be redesigned for normal EVs. It is estimated that there are also 35 privately owned charging stations. There are apps to find and pay for a charging station.
Partners involved: GAM, CEA, Chargery, ABB
Current problems related to charging in the area
More charging stations are needed but there are constraints due to the grid and electricity supply, availability of public space and the high cost of grid connection and the charging station itself. There is no booking service available and interoperability is a barrier. Misbehaviour of some EV drivers is a problem, as they stay plugged when the charge is complete, and misbehaviour of some thermic car drivers too, who park on charging stations’ parking spaces.
Short description of planned demonstrations
- User-friendly charging stations for passenger vehicles and L3e vehicles by ABB with stationary batteries to reduce impact on the grid
- Enhanced booking service to plan several users in a queue for the same charge point and parking sensors to prevent people to park if they are not charging
- Implementation of the Smart Charging System by CEA, to optimise charging of each vehicle plugged at a charging point managed by GAM according to the user needs offering tangible benefits to the user, which will enable the installation of more charging points per available grid power and the use of locally produced renewable energies.
- Mobile charging service (in cooperation with Chargery)
- Experimental installation of charging points on lamp posts
- Evaluation of different tariff schemes on utilisation, Pass’ Mobilité to integrate the charging service in a pool of “mobility as a service” to give easy access to the service and to the payment system Associated with document Ref. Ares (2020)1869861 – 01/04/2020 875131 – eCharge4Drivers Part B 20
- Upgrade of old charging stations – dedicated to car sharing and not operating today – to allow access of private users.