innogy and APCOA partner to design mobility centres of the future

Car park operator APCOA and energy company innogy intend to develop joint solutions for designing mobility centres of the future, with both companies having signed a declaration of intent.

In essence, the companies will focus on equipping car parks with charging infrastructure for electric cars, digital customer contact and the joint development of new services and business opportunities.

As electric mobility continues to gain momentum, it is also changing the requirements placed on transport infrastructure in our cities. This involves the expansion of the charging network and new digital offerings for customers throughout Europe.

“We are delighted to have found innogy as a strategic partner with whom we can play a major role in the transformation of transport in cities. With around 1.5 million parking spaces at approximately 10,000 sites in 13 European countries, we have a solid foundation for interlinking parking facilities and sustainable urban mobility. Together with innogy's experience in the area of electric mobility and an extensive digital service portfolio, we will be able to provide different customer groups with tailor-made services in future,” said Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO of APCOA.

innogy has been leading the way in the electric mobility sector for more than ten years. During this time, the company has installed more than 34,000 charging points at customer premises in Europe, the USA and Canada. The project is expected to expand the infrastructure.

“Car parks play an important role in the energy transition in cities as well as in the expansion of electric mobility and the public charging network. With photovoltaics on roofs and façades, battery storage and intelligent energy management systems, the car park of the future has the potential to become an energy centre. There is also the option of using car parks as locations with digital infrastructure. With the project, we are taking a look at the city of the future and showing how digitalising infrastructure and expanding electric mobility could improve people's quality of life,” said Hildegard Müller, Director of Grid & Infrastructure at innogy.

As an initial step, APCOA and innogy plan to equip APCOA car parks with intelligent charging infrastructure that is compliant with German calibration legislation. Innovative processes and digital systems will be interlinked to simplify finding and reserving parking spaces and charging points, concluding the charging process and paying for a parking space and electricity collectively.

The ever expanding networking and digitalisation of common services is expected to create brand-new business models and offerings in future. The car park of tomorrow will be an integrated hub of movement and transport, where delivery stations for packages as well as charging options for electric cars, scooters and bicycles will be provided, in addition to parking spaces for cars and bicycles, rental bicycles and electric car sharing.