Market dialogue on Solutions to Circular Electrical Vehicle Chargers

The BRINC project organised a dialogue meeting with Parkering Malmö on 17 November 2023, to present and discuss existing solutions and solutions under development for Circular Electrical Vehicle Chargers (EVCs).

Parkering Malmö (P-Malmö) are during their next procurement planning to buy almost 200 EVCs and in the upcoming years planning to buy 2 000-3 000 EVCs. The environmental aspect of EVCs is extremely important for P-Malmö and therefore they want to know if any of you suppliers have thoughts about the overall issue to minimize waste from EVCs. Especially how you think about compatibility, and the possibility of replacing components to increase lifespan. But also how the waste is handled, both the waste that is produced during the making of the EVC but also the waste from worn-out EVCs. In summary, if there are solutions for:

• Prolonging the lifespan through flexibility in software upgrades/changes
• Prolonging the lifespan through modularity facilitating repairs
• Systems/declarations for retake (even product-as-a-service) and/or recyclability of EVCs

Other public actors joined in the meeting: ADDA who contracts businesses for a great many of the municipalities in Sweden, Region Örebro län who are in the forefront in procurements of EVCs in Sweden, Ecostandard who sets the standards that are ending up as demands in procurements and finally Cenex a non-for-profit organization accelerating the shift to low emission transport and energy solutions through projects that support innovation and market development in Europe.

During this dialogue meeting with P-Malmö, participants heard more about their challenges and had the opportunity to present their (potential) solution together with other companies. A fruitful discussion took place and resulted in the following conclusions:

• The presenters focused in their presentations rather on the overall company internal approach to circularity and performance/functionality than on the circularity issue of the EV chargers.
• Several of the manufacturers already use recycled components/materials to some extent in their products.
• One of the presenters mentioned their aim to include components with an expected lifetime of 30 years rather than the usual 10-15 years.
• The importance of centralization to save the environment/economy/time when need for repairs/system updates was pointed out.
• One of the presenters was not a manufacturer of charging points but of standardized mounting solutions. The company stated to use “green” aluminum, eco-friendly painting etc. already and as in full control of their production process also able to present the carbon footprint of their products.
• Halmstad Energi och Miljö has already introduced a system of Products as a Service. However, most actors prefer to own their installations as they are then – in the present situation – granted governmental funding.
• Noone had yet heard of an existing secondhand market for EV-chargers. One obstacle for a secondhand market would be updates of standards. Another solution, used in the UK, is to move EV charges from one location being built out to another smaller location.
• It is still too early for the application of the -20-standard.
• It is too early for vehicle-to-grid-solutions as many different aspects are still to be solved.
• A heads up was given about the upcoming payment regulations as of April 2024 when charging points up to 50kW must offer a payment solution with credit cards.

Recording

The project BRINC - Brokering cross-border innovation through clusters brings together Public Authorities who are looking for circular solutions, with companies. In this way, the Public Authorities gain knowledge about which products and solutions the companies can offer, and/or the insight that their needs can be met in ways that they were previously unaware of. The project will unlock the potential of cross-border Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) by acting as an Innovation Procurement Broker and establishing a European hub for PPI in a circular economy. It will develop methodologies and build capacity for cross-border innovation brokering. The BRINC project is co-funded by the European Union's COSME program (Competitiveness of SMEs).