The 3connect project from the ICT for electromobility III funding programme was successfully completed in April. At the final event in Berlin, the 18 consortium members from all over Germany presented their results from the broad-based project, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics. Innovative concepts were developed for the areas of electromobile and commercial fleets, logistics, public transport and agriculture, demonstrated in field trials and the flexibilities were linked to a prototype energy market connection.
Berlin. In April 2019, 3connect, a research project of the ICT for Electromobility III technology programme funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, came to a successful conclusion with a final event and presentation of results. Networked, interoperable and comprehensive ICT-based electromobility applications in the field of commercial mobility were developed at three locations, known as hubs, and tested and demonstrated in field trials. The 18 partners from industry and research worked intensively on issues relating to the three central topics of "E-commercial vehicles and cars in integrative fleet, logistics and agricultural applications", "Integration of applications in local smart grids and central energy systems" and "Multimodal public transport applications in holistic mobility and platform concepts".
HUB Aachen
The Aachen hub focussed on fleet logistics, data transmission and second-life batteries. The expertise in electromobility bundled in the Aachen area was decisive here, enabling a vertical depth of innovation from the battery management system to the energy market connection.
The widespread use of StreetScooter GmbH vehicles by Deutsche Post will generate thousands of used batteries in the near future. A flexible option for second-life utilisation in the form of a transportable container battery has been developed in Aachen in order to use these in a grid-friendly manner. This is connected directly to the control centre so that a site in areas with a weak grid does not have to accept any restrictions when operating the vehicles. Using widespread, open protocols such as OCPP and EEBUS, the system was integrated with overlying systems to enable an electricity market connection. This was supported by the company KEO. Schleupen developed the expertise required for the connection to the electricity market. With the so-called "energy logistician", it created a system that not only procured the electricity for the Aachen site virtually, but was also networked across the board with the other hubs, thus forming the hub of the 3-connect construct.
In order to link the second-life batteries with the charging points, regio iT developed a backend-based load management system that can be used to control not only the charging points at StreetScooter, but all those that support the common protocols. This also enabled a STAWAG site to be operated with the new load management system on a trial basis.
HUB Allgäu
Under the leadership of Allgäuer Überlandwerk, the Allgäu hub focussed on the development of intelligent solutions for commercial electric fleets and agriculture. For example, a network between NGM's fleetster booking system and charging points was developed for commercial fleets and the range efficiency of an ABT eCaddy was improved through intelligent charge-based engine control. Communication was based on special data loggers from Kempten University of Applied Sciences. In the agricultural field trial, a hybrid tractor from John Deere and other flexible consumers were integrated. The centrepiece of both field trials was an energy management system (EMS) from ABB with an intuitive user interface for controlling the various systems; the system can also forecast feed-in and energy requirements. This then formed the basis for an optimised charging and load management system according to several parameters, such as increasing self-consumption, reducing the power drawn from the grid or optimising according to electricity exchange prices. This made it possible to avoid peak loads and therefore costs, particularly in the area of commercial e-fleets. Furthermore, it was even possible to substitute vehicles by pooling vehicles. In the agricultural solution, the focus was on increasing self-consumption in view of the imminent end of the 20-year EEG subsidy. Here, the battery of the hybrid tractor and other flexible consumers were successfully integrated and the self-consumption rate has already been increased. Further tests on the pilot farm will be carried out beyond the project in 2019.
HUB Osnabrück
The Osnabrück hub focussed on the expansion of electromobility and multimodality for networked, sustainable e-mobility in the city and region. Stadtwerke Osnabrück AG, as the hub manager, in collaboration with cantamen GmbH, HaCon Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH and the Innovation Centre for Mobility and Social Change (InnoZ) GmbH have developed a multimodal mobility platform, among other things. This platform integrates public transport, car sharing, a pedelec hire system, charging stations and an e-shuttle. The customer receives multimodal route planning and the option of reserving/booking various means of transport from a single source. In addition to the multimodal mobility platform, the Osnabrück hub has been working on topics relating to the electrification of car sharing. The focus here was on fleet optimisation for charging electric vehicles.
The charging processes in the bus depot and at the electric kart track also had to be optimised and intelligently controlled.
Building on previous projects such as econnect Germany (IKT-EM II), great importance was attached to direct cooperation and strong networking with each other and with other projects in order to develop holistic and transferable solutions. Uniform standards as the basis for location-independent applications and the greatest possible opportunities for utilisation were the focus of the project under the consortium leadership of smartlab Innovationsgesellschaft mbH.