Greenbuddies participate in the electrification of the service fleet in the banking sector

At the beginning of 2022, KB, a.s. announced its strategic intention to have a quarter of its fleet of company cars fully electrified by the end of the year and approved massive investments in the purchase of electric vehicles. Along with this, it expects to equip its branches and other facilities with a network of charging infrastructure to offer to its employees and clients. The investment is part of a wider plan to become completely carbon neutral by 2026.

The KB charging stations will be a combination of AC and DC charging stations. The AC charging stations will supply power via the on-board rectifier of the electric car to its battery. They use a standard mains voltage of 50 Hz, which is converted in the rectifier into a suitable DC charging current for the electric vehicle battery. The size of the on-board rectifiers is determined by the limited space requirements and the possibility of cooling the waste heat generated during the charging process directly on board the car. This practically limits the maximum charging power from AC charging stations. Charging stations are available in a range of power outputs, the most powerful of which reach peak charging outputs of 22 kW. It was the installation of these peak stations with the highest available charging power that Greenbuddies Charging carried out in March 2022 at two KB, inc. facilities. These are the KB branch at Václavské Náměstí 42 and the KB training centre in Libohošt'. The installed technology was supplied directly by the partner company ChargeUp Services, CZ from the manufacturer Circontrol.

Alternating charging stations are the most commonly used type of charging infrastructure. However, it can take several hours to fully charge an electric vehicle via an AC charging station. KB, a.s. wants to offer its clients and employees maximum comfort in the form of fast recharging of the electric car battery within a few minutes to about an hour via DC charging stations. This charging technology, which is available, for example, at some petrol stations on motorways, uses rectified energy to charge the electric car battery, which is fed directly to the battery terminals via the electric car's charging control circuitry. All technical solutions for energy rectification, loss cooling and other complex issues are provided in the DC station rack. The latter becomes a complex device that is usually unnoticeable at charging points. Our Greenbuddies Charging team has extensive experience in the installation, maintenance and preventive servicing of DC charging stations, including through regular long-term cooperation with the DC charging station manufacturer Tritium. The latter is one of the exclusive suppliers of Ionity's pan-European charging network technology.

A total of 24 Circontrol eNext Park T 22k W AC charging stations were installed at the two KB, a.s. installations during the first phase of construction, and preparations were made for the installation of two Circontrol Raption 50 kW DC stations. These will be added in the second phase of construction. We are very pleased to be part of this major innovative project aimed at reducing emissions and carbon neutrality in automotive traffic.

Sources:

https://www.business-car.cz/neprehlednete/komercni-banka-elektrifikuje-svou-flotilu-zaroven-poridi-uctyhodnych-140-dobijecich-stanic

https://oenergetice.cz/elektromobilita/komercni-banka-zprovoznila-u-svych-objektu-89-dobijecich-stanic-pro-elektroauta

https://cc.cz/komercka-elektrifikuje-flotilu-131-enyaqy-jeji-vlastnik-nakupem-leaseplanu-upevnuje-pozici-v-operativnim-leasingu/