Electric vehicles will soon be zipping around the streets of Berlin as Daimler AG and RWE AG launch a large-scale trial entitled e-mobility Berlin.
The companies will join forces on the project, with Mercedes-Benz and smart supplying 100 electric cars and the vehicle service, while RWE handles development, installation and operation of the recharging infrastructure with some 500 charging points to appear across the city.
The idea is that interfaces between the vehicles and the intelligent charging points will be developed allowing customer-friendly and convenient everyday operation. There will be a payment system based on an exchange of data between the charging point and the in-car communication system.
The project, supported by the German Federal Government, will see charging points installed at home, in workplaces and in public areas. On-board lithium-ion battery packs will be used to store electricity when demand is low and to feed back in the network when demand is high as part of a vehicle-to-grid integration scheme.
A new generation of smart vehicles will be used for e-mobility Berlin, as part of the company’s 10th anniversary celebrations. The new vehicles feature lithium-ion batteries for the first time in the smart electric drive system.
