A better charging infrastructure is needed to drive e-mobility forward. This is where Me Energy comes in with bioethanol-powered charging stations.
Poor charging infrastructure slows down e-mobility
More and more companies and private individuals want to switch to electric vehicles. The only inconvenience is the lack of charging infrastructure. What’s the point of having an electric car if you don’t know whether you can recharge it outside your home?
Me Energy wants to solve this problem with an off-grid rapid charging station – the so-called Rapid Charger.
Operating the Me Energy Rapid Charger with greener bioethanol
Of course, it would be an advantage if the charging structure is not just as polluting as petrol.
“To put it bluntly: quantity eats up progress. There is always more; more goods, more people, more demand. We have to make sure that we emit less CO2,” says Lars Plettner from Me Energy.
Their solution: the Rapid Chargers are fuelled with bioethanol. The good thing about this is that it is readily available and is produced from waste materials.
“The residues are fermented, distilled and added to the Rapid Charger. We have a two-engine generator principle. It turns it into electricity. Of course, CO2 is released in the process, but only as much as could be absorbed in advance,” explains Plettner.
Rapid Chargers are mobile and independent of the power grid
Switching processes to e-mobility also requires a charging structure that adapts to the structure of the company.
“There are locations where the stakeholders say, I don’t want charging infrastructure to be built under my property,” Plettner cites as an example.
For this reason, the Rapid Chargers are completely mobile and do not require a civil engineering phase. Instead, they are delivered by lorry, refuelled again and again and can be set up flexibly.
Nevertheless, they provide up to 4000 KWh of fast charging current and 150 KW of system power. This makes them a good solution for companies, as there is no need to set up an extra power grid.
Cooperation on e-mobility for more progress
Me Energy is currently in the process of making it easier for various companies to switch to solar with the Rapid Chargers, including SIXT, dpd and BWG.
The chargers are currently not suitable for private use in high-rise buildings due to the noise level, but this is something that can still be worked on, says Plettner.
The good thing is that the company does not see itself as a direct competitor to grid-based charging systems. In the field of e-mobility, it is much more about complementarity and joint progress.
“In electromobility, everyone belongs together,” says Plettner. “We are not the ones cleaning up the market, but the market is working together in principle to create solutions.”
