Project “ALigN” is getting ready to launch. The number of charging points for electric vehicles in Aachen is to be massively increased.

With the support of the Federal Government’s “Sofortprogramm Saubere Luft 2017-2020” (“Emergency Programme Clean Air 2017-2020”), the City of Aachen will be installing around 475 charging points for electric vehicles over the next two years. “This will equip us optimally for the impending acceleration of the electro-mobility trend,” said Aachen’s Lord Mayor, Marcel Philipp, at the launch ceremony of the project “ALigN” on 20th December 2018.

Charging points also for businesses with electric service fleets
The charging infrastructure will not only be installed in the public sphere, but also in the semi-public and private domains. This means that businesses can apply to the City of Aachen, if they want to electrify their fleets of service vehicles and will need a charging infrastructure. The offer is primarily aimed at tradesmen, taxis, nursing and parcel services that perform a large number of daily journeys in the inner-city area. “The aim of the project is to reduce the level of nitrogen dioxide emissions in Aachen”, said the Lord Mayor. “There is also the option of sharing electric vehicles with other businesses. The plan is also to implement measures for fleet management.”

RWTH institutes to take care of optimal utilisation of the power grid
The RWTH Aachen University is a partner in the project, which calls not only for the installation of a charging infrastructure but also for optimal utilisation of the power distribution networks. “We are demonstrating how, with solid state transformers and storage batteries, we can increase the available charging capacity at the charging points way beyond the actual capacity of the power supply grid,” Prof. Dr. Rik W. De Doncker of the Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), explains. The STAWAG is involved in the research project by virtue of its operation of charging infrastructure. It has already installed 90 charging points in Aachen.
 
BACKGROUND
The ALigN Project – “Ausbau von Ladeinfrastruktur durch gezielte Netzunterstützung” (Expansion of charging infrastructure through purposeful network support)
The ALigN project will run through to the end of September 2020. The costs for the RWTH and the City of Aachen together amount to 6.8 million euro, 5.4 million euro of which will be borne by the City of Aachen. The funding rate is 100 percent. A further five partners are involved in the project. Financial support is provided by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). When applying for funding, the project partners received support from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne. “We are currently funding a total of 15 projects all over Germany. We selected those municipalities that have the best prospects of achieving usable results. Aachen has good preconditions because the city has already done a great deal of work in the area of electro-mobility,” Dr. Bernd Bauche, Section Manager at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
 
Businesses interested in electrifying their service fleets can contact the City of Aachen per email at: elektromobilitaet@mail.aachen.de.