The Metropolitans: Over 180 parking spaces, electric car ready

More and more people are buying an electric vehicle and want to be able to charge it at home. The condominium owners of the “The Metropolitans” residential complex in Zurich have therefore had their infrastructure ready for electromobility. They decided on the flexible complete solution from ewz.

The two towers rise around 60 meters into the sky and thus shape the character of the Leutschenbach district in the north of the city of Zurich. However, “The Metropolitans” is not only visually impressive, it is also a showcase project when it comes to electromobility. The underground car park was equipped in such a way that a sustainable infrastructure for e-vehicles is available for the residents of the 212 apartments.

Clear decision
When the residential towers were completed in 2015/16, there was only one charging station in the underground car park. Little by little, other residents had their parking lot equipped. “There was a certain amount of wild growth,” explains Christian Steiger, who, as the delegate of the condominium owners, accompanied the expansion from the start. “When other owners expressed their interest in a charging station, we set up a project team to find a uniform solution”. The team obtained offers and recommended the charging solution from ewz after a thorough examination. “Working with ewz in the evaluation phase was very pleasant and productive,” explains Steiger. “We were also impressed by the price-performance ratio, the know-how and the complete solution.” The joint owners’ meeting followed the recommendation and decided, by far more, in favor of the ewz solution.

Novel ceiling pillars
After the award, ewz submitted a funding application to the City of Zurich, which covered up to 60 percent of the costs for the charging infrastructure as part of the 2000 watt contribution. The application was approved – implementation could begin in spring 2021. In a first phase, all 187 parking spaces in the underground car park were connected with a ribbon cable. This means that when you register, you only need to install and connect the charging station. Several dozen residents did this directly: in the summer of 2021, over 80 parking spaces were already equipped with a “easee” charging station.

Depending on the location of a parking lot, the charging station is either mounted on the wall (wallbox) or suspended from the ceiling. Such ceiling pillars, each with up to four charging stations, are ideal for parking spaces in the middle of underground garages and impress with their high-quality design. According to Christian Steiger, the feedback on the new charging infrastructure is very positive. “The charging stations look good and work perfectly,” he sums up.

Load management saves costs
The charging infrastructure of “The Metropolitans” includes dynamic load management. It ensures that all connected e-cars receive sufficient electricity and are charged the next morning. At the same time, the system ensures that the need for charging is coordinated with the needs of the households. This automatic load balancing of the “easee” charging stations has the advantage that up to three times as many electric vehicles can be charged at the same time – 24 hours a day and thanks to a standard tariff at no additional cost. This prevents overloads or even power failures and ensures a reliable, stable power supply. In addition, thanks to the load management, an expensive expansion of the connected load of the two residential towers could be avoided.

Simple billing
While the basic expansion of the charging infrastructure was paid for jointly by all floor owners using a distribution key, the individual owner pays for the charging station himself. After that, only low costs are incurred in operation. The users receive a chip card (RFID card) so that they can identify themselves at their charging station and enable charging. The ewz package also includes an app that shows the electricity used and the costs at all times. You will be billed monthly via a credit card that is stored in the app. Users only pay ewz CHF 9.90 per month for these services.

Advantages of the ewz charging solution
Through the partnership, the residents benefit from a future-proof complete solution. The project team and the administration really appreciate having a single point of contact with ewz as the general contractor for the planning, implementation and operation of the charging infrastructure. This guarantees an efficient, practice-oriented solution with simple scalability. Ewz’s 24-7 customer service and its reputation as a city partner strengthen the customer’s feeling of security. You can also rest assured that your electric vehicles will only be charged with green electricity.

Flexible, simple and sustainable: this is how the charging solution from ewz works. And you can find out more about Switzerland-wide energy solutions from ewz here.

Katharina Köppen, Faktor Journalisten Zürich