Shift Magazine - July 2021 - 4

SHORT BYTES
THE SHIFT TO EVs, ON ISLAND TIME
VW, Greek officials
develop 'future lab'
for electrification
G
etting the right infrastructure in
place to accommodate a growing
electric vehicle market is a massive
challenge, even in major cities.
But what if the industry could test the
transition to EVs in a smaller geographic
area first, to see what works best?
That's the goal of a new project on
Astypalea, a Greek island in the southern
Aegean Sea.
A collaboration between Volkswagen
and Greek government officials brought
EVs to Astypalea last month, kick-starting
the modernization of the island's energy
system over the next five years.
Astypalea
(ah-stee-PAH-lee-a), with
a reported population of only a few
thousand, will serve as a " future lab "
for Europe's shift to electrification and
decarbonization, Volkswagen Group CEO
Herbert Diess said.
Police, the airport authority and the local
municipality, along with private customers,
are the project's target. The goal is to swap
out 1,500 internal combustion engine vehicles
on the island with 1,000 EVs.
Accompanying the island's shift to EVs
are government subsidies, the formation
of new mobility services - such as
full-electric car-sharing and ride-sharing,
to replace bus service - and a revamped
energy system. This includes a solar park
and a battery storage system. The energy
A PLACE TO RECHARGE
Audi to build 'hub' made of shipping containers
A
4
udi has designed and plans later
this year
bespoke high-power charging
" hub " as a pilot project in its
native Germany. The objective? To explore
a possible solution both for demand
spikes and for consumers who do not
have access to home charging.
Audi revealed the design in May. The
hub would be constructed from repurposed
shipping containers that hold 2.45
megawatt-hours of reused lithium ion
batteries.
In addition to six available 300-kilowatt
chargers, the concept houses a lounge
area where consumers will be able to relax
while their vehicle is juicing up, Audi said.
shift * july 2021
The battery packs for the charging
to build a moveable,
hub will come from disassembled development
vehicles, and because of the
design and high-capacity energy storage,
as well as the attached photovoltaic
roof panels, the charging hub requires a
standard 400-volt hookup from the local
utility provider.
" That makes output starting at 11 kW
per cube sufficient to be able to fill the
three storage modules with a total capacity
of 2.45 MWh continually, and to charge
them overnight, " Audi said in a written
statement.
Audi said it would allow its customers to
reserve and schedule their charging at the
hub, giving those who drive vehicles from
The hub would hold 2.45 megawatt-hours
of reused lithium ion batteries, Audi says.
other brands access to the charging facilities
when not otherwise occupied.
" We are testing what the optimal technical
solution is in a very realistic way. The
focus in doing so is firmly on the needs of our
customers, " Oliver Hoffmann, a member of
Audi AG's board for technical development,
said in a written statement.
---- Larry P. Vellequette
The goal is to swap Astypalea police cars and
other combustion engine vehicles with EVs.
system, which will be bolstered with wind
turbines, could cover 80 percent of the
island's total energy demand by 2026.
Researchers will study the island in the
hopes that it " will give us vital insights that
will help us to create incentives for change
on our journey to a cleaner, greener and
more sustainable future, " Greek Prime
Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a
statement.
---- Alexa St. John
https://www.greeka.com/dodecanese/astypalea/about/ https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/press-releases/astypalea-kick-off-for-transformation-to-smart-sustainable-island-7215
Shift Magazine - July 2021

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