Boundless e‑mobility

Our predecessor companies, from which EnBW was founded, already believed in e-mobility in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, however, electric vehicles were still a rarity on Germany's roads. But we are deliberately at the forefront and in 2010 selected 500 pioneers from 3,000 applicants to support us in the mobility transition. The “Electronauts”, as we call them, are testing the suitability of e-scooters for everyday use in the Stuttgart region – for a whole year. The result: The project saves almost 100 tons of CO₂. About 200 drivers intend to continue using the e-scooter after the test phase. Thus, with one thousand wheels, we set the expansion of electromobility in Germany in motion.

A mere two years later, we are also focusing on electric power for cars. We put our first intelligent charging station for electric vehicles into operation at Stuttgart Airport in 2011. It was developed together with Bosch as part of the MeRegioMobil research project. The charging station is one of the first in Germany to be certified for practical use and enables drivers of electric vehicles to charge electricity regardless of the manufacturer.

No, this is not about the songs of a popular rock band – but about the abbreviations of two types of electricity. DC means “direct current”. In contrast, AC means “alternating current”. At the beginning of December 2016, we put the first DC charging station into operation at the “Tank & Rast” service area in Denkendorf in the district of Esslingen. The advantage of the new charging technology: While AC charging uses an on-board charger installed in the car to convert alternating current into direct current, with a DC charging station this already takes place in the current transformer of the charging station. This makes charging much faster - which is particularly practical if you do not have much time available. The regular output of DC charging points is up to 400 kilowatts. We also use these for our new fast-charging stations.

Transparent costs: On March 1, 2019, we became the first provider to introduce a new tariff for charging electric cars - we only charge the exact price for charging based accurately on the kilowatt hour. The innovation affected the entire EnBW HyperNetwork, which at the time comprised around 25,000 charging points from various providers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, more than 90 percent of all public, commercially available charging points. Thus, we set great emphasis on the simplicity and suitability for everyday use of our EnBW mobility+ offering for drivers from an early stage.

In Baden-Württemberg, we completed the SAFE project in fall 2019. SAFE stands for “Area-wide safety charging network for electric vehicles” - and thus also for the certainty of finding a charging facility anywhere. The aim of the project is to guarantee a comprehensive charging network in urban and rural areas. More than 450 charging stations in total. Mandated by the state of Baden-Württemberg, 78 municipal utilities, suppliers and local authorities are joining forces in a consortium. We were not only part of the consortium, but also coordinated the collaboration between the partners as consortium leader.

EnBW and joint venture partner SMATRICS joined forces in 2020 and founded SMATRICS EnBW to operate and rapidly expand the largest fast-charging network in Austria. Both operators are leaders in the field of high-speed charging infrastructure in their respective countries. Thanks to SMATRICS EnBW, we are now also the market leader for fast charging infrastructure in Austria.

We are also creating more and more opportunities to easily charge electric cars at our company. From 2019 to summer 2020, we put 720 charging points into operation at 120 of our company sites – today there are already more than 950. That makes about one site per week that we have equipped with charging infrastructure. Our employees can now charge their electric cars on site. Of course, this also applies to our guests. Thanks to the charging solution with effective load management from our subsidiary ChargeHere, many of our cars charge at the same time every day.

Ultra-fast and convenient: Our first fast-charging park is a highlight for us for several reasons. In Rutesheim on the A8, electric drivers can not only charge ultra-fast at eight charging points with an output of up to 300 kilowatts. Thanks to the generous roofing, visitors are protected from the weather during the travel break. The solar roof is the park’s flagship. It supports the operation of the site with solar energy generated directly on site. Lighting and video surveillance provide security and public WLAN increases the comfort of your stay.

We have more than just one reason to celebrate: For the fifth time in a row, our EnBW mobility+ app has been awarded first place in the charging network test by technology magazine connect. EnBW scored best in the categories of charging point coverage, app operation, app functions and payment/price transparency. We also receive top marks as a charging network operator. According to other tests, we are also ahead in terms of charging experience and options as well as sustainability.

And yet another significant milestone: We are the first company to have realized 1,000 fast-charging stations in Germany. Turbo speed – this claim applies not only to our charging stations, but also to the expansion of the public fast-charging infrastructure throughout Germany. Like no other company, we also demonstrated enormous speed in 2023. Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann praises EnBW as a strong partner in the economy. And we are far from finished: Starting in 2023, we have increased our investments to around 200 million euros per year for further expansion. Our next goal is to operate around 30,000 public EnBW fast-charging points across Germany by 2030.

In order to follow future trends in the field of e-mobility at an early stage, we are not only working on our own innovative business models, but are also focusing on partnerships and founding our own companies such as ChargeHere. Together with this young company, we have developed an integrated charging infrastructure for companies, which can even be used to charge e-cars with solar power from the company's own roof if desired.

How can drivers charge their e-cars without getting out of the car? One answer is automated conductive charging. When the e-car is placed over the charging plate in the floor, a so-called connector automatically extends from underneath and starts charging the vehicle. An affordable, safe and energy-efficient solution from the company Easelink, in which our investment unit EnBW New Ventures 2022 has invested.

We are one of the first companies to test another option: inductive charging. In this process, no physical contact between the vehicle and the loading unit is necessary. This is because the energy is transmitted via a protected electromagnetic field with charging coils. Sometimes even while driving. We have already tested the enormous flexibility that this creates in initial pilot projects – for example with e-buses in local transport with project partners Electreon Germany, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Balinger Stadtwerke.