32 percent generally accessible charging stations in Poland are located in public parking lots, 23 percent. within shopping malls, and 17.5 percent. on hotel grounds. This means approximately 290 hotels with such infrastructure (approximately 580 charging points, as most stations have at least two stations). The data is consistent with the popular search engine for accommodation Booking.com. In Poland, there are 260 hotel places offering the possibility of charging vehicles, not all hotels are available there.
For hotels, having an infrastructure for “refueling electricians” becomes an important factor attracting a specific group of new customers, people who are unlikely to complain about the lack of money. It also supports the image of a modern, environmentally friendly place. That is why more and more accommodation facilities boast of such installations. It is slowly becoming an information standard on hotel websites.
“We are noticing a growing number of inquiries about the conditions and costs of installing stations charged by hotels and restaurants. This usually turns into orders for comprehensive station installations, from consultations, audits of energy conditions, construction, installation and commissioning works, to servicing. A trend is becoming visible that among hotels or restaurants, a charging station is a clear advantage over others and it is starting to be treated as a required standard among guests,” says Karol Kubiak, electric and hybrid vehicle engineer from SPIE Building Solutions, a company that assembles charging stations in various types of facilities.
For lunch and charging the batteries:
There are more and more electric vehicles in Poland, almost 30,000. This number includes BEVs, i.e. purely electric vehicles, and PHEV vehicles, i.e. hybrids consisting of both an internal combustion engine and an electric engine with the possibility of charging the batteries from a socket (plug-in). For owners looking for an overnight stay, a charging point can be a deciding factor in choosing a hotel. As for restaurants located on highways or expressways. An electric car user, planning a route from point A to point B and knowing that he will need to charge the vehicle and eat a meal, will look for a facility where he can do it at the same time.
Some large gastronomic chains already have adequate infrastructure, both the fast food type and those offering vegetarian meals. Now, local entrepreneurs running restaurants are following in the footsteps of international chain stores. This applies not only to large cities.
“An important principle of using charging stations is to occupy them only as long as it is necessary to replenish the energy of the batteries. You should not block the positions longer than necessary, i.e. when our vehicle has been loaded, let us share the place with others. This principle harmonizes well with the use of the restaurant – we order, eat, pay and leave, we leave, thus freeing up space in the charging station,” says Karol Kubiak from SPIE Building Solutions.
Cheaper and longer in the hotel, fast in the restaurant, but a bit more expensive:
According to the expert, charging models for hotels and restaurants are different. Not always higher power is justified, it should be selected on the basis of previous assumptions, including how long the vehicle can be charged.
In the case of hotels, when guests leave their cars overnight, a longer charging time is available, so AC stations (alternating current, e.g. 11kW) can be used. The justification for the use of lower capacity infrastructure is a clear difference in price, they are up to 10 times cheaper than fast stations. However, they must be used near restaurants where charging time is much less, so the use of a fast charging model is necessary.
“By the fast model, we mean charging with direct current, i.e. from a DC station. Such installations, designed for charging passenger cars, offer a power range from 25 to 350kW, although at present the most expensive car models are able to accept up to approx. 270kW,” explains Kubiak.
“It can be roughly assumed that each user needs to charge his vehicle to 80 percent. battery capacity. The capacity of such cars’ batteries varies, ranging from 40kWh to even 100kWh. Usually it is around 60kWh. For example, if we have a vehicle of this capacity and we need to complete 80 percent in it. battery, 48kWh must be provided. It will take two hours, as a rule: a 25kW station will deliver 25kWh in 1h (and a 350kW station will deliver 350kWh in an hour). The bottleneck is the possibilities of the batteries in the car, which are able to take the charging power from a DC station, in the average car class up to approx. 100kW. Top premium models can temporarily accept up to 270kW. When charging from an AC station, we are additionally limited by the power of the on-board rectifier, usually equal to 11kW, hence the difference in the charging speed of DC and AC,” explains Karol Kubiak from SPIE Building Solutions.
According to the Electricity Meter, at the end of September 2021, a total of 31,633 electric cars (BEV and PHEV) were registered in Poland. Drivers of e-vehicles in Poland had 1,675 public charging stations (3,178 points) at their disposal, 31 percent of them were fast charging stations with direct current (DC), the remaining 69 percent is a slow AC charger.
Source: SPIE Building Solutions
