THE SLOVAKS ARE COMING UP WITH A REVOLUTION IN ELECTRIC CAR CHARGING

The Slovak charging system AgeVolt comes up with a revolutionary solution in the field of electromobility. It can cope with overloading the power grid or exceeding the reserved capacity by monitoring the current consumption of the building and regulating the charging in relation to the currently available electricity.

 

A revolutionary innovation in electric vehicles is coming to the market. The Slovak AgeVolt charging system offers a comprehensive solution that will be especially appreciated by owners of buildings with parking lots. In the context of the growing trend of electromobility, they often struggle with increasing the reserved capacity or with penalties for exceeding it, but also with overloading of the electricity grid.

AgeVolt offers AC charging for electric cars with stepless power control up to 22 kW. The system suitable for all types of buildings from family houses through shopping malls to hotels is controlled by a central unit from the leading Czech manufacturer Teco a.s., which can control 1 to 96 chargers. It monitors building consumption and optimizes current charging power according to various parameters.

Family houses also appreciate cooperation with photovoltaics

For family homes, AgeVolt knows the maximum electrical load of the building, so it will only ever allow the car to be charged at the power that is currently available relative to the household's consumption. The owner does not have to change circuit breakers for more powerful ones or worry about overloading the network. What's more, if you use photovoltaics, you can charge your electric car for free. AgeVolt is able to monitor not only the current consumption of the household but also the electricity production of the solar panels.

Large buildings save on reserved capacity

In the case of office buildings, hotels or shopping malls, the AgeVolt system guards the reserved capacity of the building and at the same time the maximum load on the cabling in so-called bottlenecks (where the load is limited by the existing wiring). This means that no more electricity will ever reach the car park than the current situation allows. "Building owners don't have to deal with the number of chargers in the parking lot, change cables for stronger ones, or worry about the situation that all the chargers will be maxed out at the time when everyone in the building is making their morning coffee,” says Ján Zuštiak, founder of the AgeVolt. The system also offers the ability to prioritise users, so VIP guests or regular clients will be able to charge at maximum charging power.

SALE mode ideal for self-governments

Each AgeVolt charger can be connected to a network of publicly available chargers and accept payments in SALE mode through it. This may be interesting for municipalities, which will soon be able to draw subsidies for electric chargers in the second round of the call from the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. "However, the SALE mode will certainly also be attractive for homeowners with photovoltaics. Each of our chargers can be adapted into a double charger, with one socket in the owner's garage, for example, and the other in the front of the house for public use. If the owner has a surplus of energy from the solar panels, he or she can pass it on and profit from it,” explains Zuštiak.

First sale in Slovakia, great interest from abroad

In Slovakia, the first AgeVolt chargers will be installed in Bratislava. ENGIE Group, which provides a broad portfolio of services in the fields of energy, property management and technology installation, will place them in its headquarters at the end of the year. "AgeVolt has literally tailored the solution for us. Our companies are open to new technologies, the functional and practical benefits of this charging system have really impressed us. We are already looking forward to cooperation on further projects," said Michal Trnovský, Director of Development Division of ENGIE Services.

Although AgeVolt is just starting to be sold, there is a lot of interest, especially abroad. In the Czech Republic, they are already exclusively represented by Czech Energy Team, which has already presented the system at two exhibitions in Prague. The first was the international building fair For Arch in September, followed by the e-Salon in November. ”We are negotiating the sale of our system in Italy and Sweden, and the Germans have also expressed interest,“ Ján Zuštiak outlined the promising development of the AgeVolt system.

The price list is not yet finalised due to ongoing negotiations and requests from several parties, but chargers with an integrated control unit will start at around EUR 1,500. One such charger is sufficient; others for the same car park will be considerably cheaper. AgeVolt will be available in wallbox (wall-mounted) and post (stand-alone charger) versions. The pricing as well as the equipment of each model should be known by the end of November.