SERL Group: offering tenants an upgradeable recharging solution
The electrification of the car fleet is growing steadily and accelerating. As a result, more and more electromobilists are looking to recharge their batteries, particularly at their place of work. Businesses and property companies need to respond to this need with accessible and efficient recharging solutions.
The SERL Group, aware of this trend, wanted to install a monetised recharging solution on its USIN Lyon Parilly site that would be easy to use and scalable, to meet the needs of tenant companies.
In less than a week, and with a single connection of just 25 kW, the Eiko solution was installed in the site car park, with an initial configuration of 8 charge points and a 50 kWh battery.
Meet the needs of tenant companies with an easy-to-use, monetisable solution
In addition to having to comply with regulations (i.e. the LOM, for Loi d’Orientation des Mobilités), the SERL Group was faced with the need to recharge the electric vehicles of its occupants, companies and employees. Since 15 February, Eiko has been meeting this demand with 8 charging points installed in the North car park.
For the SERL Group, simply installing charging stations was not enough. It had to find a solution that would be easy to use for all users of the service, whether occupants or visitors to the site, and that would make it possible to charge for the recharging service.
To meet this challenge, Eiko offers a unique, fluid and transparent customer journey. On the cube’s touch screen, the user selects the energy to be recovered during the session. The system informs them of the maximum price they will pay as soon as they place their order, for total transparency of the price of the service. Payment is then made directly by credit card, via the contactless electronic payment terminal.
It’s an intelligent system that’s easy to deploy. The service is easy to use for our tenants, thanks to the touch-screen interface and the credit card payment solution.
David Bellanger, Director of Real Estate and Investment, SERL Group.
I’ve been charging my electric car for a few weeks now thanks to the Mob-Energy solution, in the car park at the USIN site. It’s practical and really easy to use! The interface is clear, you pay by credit card according to your demand, and you receive a text message as soon as the charge is complete.
Isabelle, site occupant and service customer
A turnkey solution capable of adapting to changes in recharging demand
The life of the USIN site is punctuated by the arrival of new tenant companies. Add to this the constant increase in the number of electrified vehicles in the car park, and there is no doubt that additional charging points will be needed in the future.
One of the reasons why the SERL Group chose the Eiko cube was its ability to evolve very easily over time, adapting to the pace of demand.
In just a few days, it is possible to add new charge points, more storage capacity or even increase the power distributed to the charging points.
Current demand in the USIN car park did not require the installation of more than 8 charging points. This estimate of actual demand, made by Mob-Energy and SERL during the project study phase, has proved to be correct after two months in service. While 4 charging sessions are recorded per day on average, the charging station is busiest on Tuesdays and Fridays, with 6 sessions per day. Peak demand has also been recorded at 10 sessions in a single day.
When necessary, SERL will simply add new charging points, and in the meantime will be able to rely on the waiting list function and SMS alerts at the end of charging to organise user rotation.
Thanks to EIKO, we can go from 8 to 16 charge points in just a few days. This is one of the major reasons why we chose this solution: our NICU site is going to evolve at the same time as our tenants’ uses.
David Bellanger, Director of Real Estate and Investment, SERL Group.
A recharging solution that reflects the SERL Group’s commitment to the environment
The SERL Group and its subsidiaries place environmental and energy issues at the heart of their property development, planning and land management activities. For example, the USIN industrial site was rehabilitated using materials that already existed on the site, deconstructing as little as possible and using second-life products. The Group had already taken the plunge in re-use a few years ago on other of its sites, anticipating regulatory obligations and going as far as 90% re-use of existing materials on certain buildings.
The SERL Group also saw USIN as a sustainable landscaping project for its 15,000m2 of green spaces. The Group reclaimed a site with poor soil that was a mixture of gravel and earth, and fertilised the site by reinjecting inoculums (bacterial life) and compost into the soil. Initially, there were around ten trees on the site, which will eventually grow to 550. But that’s not all: the site has been designed with full knowledge of tomorrow’s climate, since it requires no watering.
After just 2 years of initiatives, the SERL Group’s acquisition of USIN has halved the site’s carbon footprint.
The site’s recharging project, like the Group’s well-established green policy, had to have a sustainable essence. The decision to install Eiko, which integrates second-life batteries from the automotive industry, was therefore highly consistent with the ambition to integrate reuse and circularity into the USIN site’s approach to land development.
What’s more, these batteries enable cheaper energy to be stored at night and delivered during the day when the grid is under heavy load. In this way, Eiko reduces peaks in consumption on the public grid, a major argument for the SERL Group.
There’s a real advantage in the Eiko model, with the question of storage coming up more and more. With its second-life batteries, Eiko’s solution makes it possible to smooth out the load and have less impact on the public grid.
David Bellanger, Director of Real Estate and Investment, SERL Group.
Eiko has the capacity to store energy from photovoltaic panels to encourage self-consumption. The SERL Group’s interest is in being able to use its panels to consume its own solar energy, which is also a significant asset in terms of its commitment to eco-responsibility. Eiko was therefore the ideal solution, combining energy storage and recharging of the electric vehicles used by the SERL site’s occupants.
Coupling storage with shading systems doubles Eiko’s interest in car parks like ours, or in shopping centres or businesses.
David Bellanger, Director of Real Estate and Investment, SERL Group.
Your customized project
Every parking lot is different.
Every customer has his or her own recharging needs.
That’s why our solutions are modular and scalable, so that your recharging infrastructure is perfectly suited to your needs at all times.