Zenpark, pioneer and leader in the Parking-as-a-Service industry, is once again revolutionising the parking real estate sector by launching its Plug&Share solution today. Plug&Share is aimed at parking real estate builders and owners (developers, public housing landlords, offices, hotels, condominium managers, etc.) who wish to deploy an efficient charging service for electric vehicles while limiting their costs.
By capitalising on its cutting-edge expertise in parking space sharing technologies, Zenpark has designed and developed a solution that allows any private charging station to be shared between several users thanks to the possibility of booking charging slots. Plug&Share therefore meets the requirements of a recharging service in fully private parking as well as in private parking open to the public (shared parking or smart parking).
For its French launch, Plug&Share has already convinced public housing landlords (Batigère en Ile-de-France, Groupe 3F), offices (CCI Paris Ile-de-France), condominiums (ASL of the Danube eco-district, ASL of the Smartseille eco-district) and real estate developers (Eiffage Immobilier). For this launch, Zenpark is already operating 40 charging points in car parks in Paris, Marseille and Strasbourg. Capitalising on this launch, the company aims to deploy and operate 250 charging hubs in urban areas by 2026.
Sustanaible electric mobility requires shared charging stations
In France, while the number of electric vehicles has climbed 130% in less than 3 years, the number of charging stations has increased by only 50%. The need for a dense network of the territory in terminals has been well understood by the French government, which has set itself the objective of 100,000 terminals in the territory by the end of 2021. This objective is still far from being achieved with only 30,000 charging points open to the public at present. It is now a question of stepping up the deployments of terminals open to the public, particularly in neighbourhoods which include residential, office, commercial or mixed real estate with underground parking. Why? First, because the street level network of charging stations will not be enough, but also because, for 90% of owners of electric vehicles, the home is the main place for charging (ENEDIS study July 2020).
To make the transition to EVs possible for everyone, it is critical to deploy the charging stations as close as possible to the place of residence or the place of work. And it can be done in a smart and sustainable way without having to install as many charging stations as there are users. How? By deploying a network of shared charging stations, open to residents and employees of the neighbourhood, as well as to external visitors who can come and recharge their vehicle on an ad hoc basis. The shared charging station in underground parking is also very attractive to develop since it constitutes a source of income for the owners of the car park, and can benefit from financial incentives (in France, € 2,700 per charging station under the Advenir program). It is also in perfect agreement with the municipalities’ desire to drastically reduce surface parking while promoting carbon-free mobility.
William Rosenfeld, CEO and Co-Founder of ZENPARK: “At the start of this project, we were already convinced of the need to adapt car parks to the revolution of electric mobility. The question was whether Zenpark could bring real added value to the ecosystem. We didn’t want to be just an additional charging station installer. We spoke with all the key players in the real estate industry. The issue to focus on became obvious: maximising the rate of use! Why? Because a private charging station shows a usage rate of only around 3% on average. In other words, it is only used 43 minutes per day, or less than one day per month, to satisfy the needs of one user. The current model of deployment, 1 station for 1 vehicle, is therefore an absurdity. In a building, it would be like having one elevator per apartment. Our parking space sharing technology has been improving for 10 years and has benefited Plug & Share very directly which explains why all players in the ecosystem, without exception, now encourage us to deploy this shared model. With the mass adoption of the sharing economy, we believe we will be able to deploy and operate nearly 250 charging hubs over the next 5 years. ”
With PLUG&SHARE, ZENPARK seeks to operate 250 charging hubs in shared car parks by 2026
Zenpark is leading the smart parking revolution in France. With around ten projects already in operation and nearly 150 projects won in partnership with the 30 most prestigious real estate developers, Zenpark has become the key player in the sector in just a few years. These large private car parks (generally between 500 and 1,000 spaces) which are designed to pool all uses – co-owners of the car park, residents and employees of the neighbourhood, customers of local shops and businesses – are also open to the public to accommodate all parking needs. Here again, sharing is central for these new generation car parks, which Zenpark also operates.
With changes in regulations and behaviours that are fuelling the transition to all-electric, the developers and condominiums of real estate projects that include shared car parks have asked Zenpark to help them in setting up and operating charging stations. Plug&Share immediately won them over. Three main reasons explain this:
- Cost. The first step is to meet the demand for access to a charging service while controlling its costs. The possibility given to everyone of simply reserving a charging slot and sharing it, leads to a reduction in the number of stations required for a higher quality of service. This means less installation and operating costs for the condominium.
- Pricing. The ability to share charging points between residents and visitors increases their usage rate, which makes it possible to better leverage the infrastructure while offering extremely competitive charging rates. For residents, it is a monthly flat rate of € 20 for an annual consumption of 1 MWh. For external visitors, two possibilities are offered, booking or on demand. Pricing starts at € 25 for a day which includes charging and parking, if the user prefers to access the service on-demand, pricing will depend directly on the customer’s charging supplier to which will be added the price of parking with Zenpark.
- Value. By combining shared charging stations offering regular recharging (7.4 kW) with stations offering fast charging (22 kW or 50 kW), Plug&Share makes it possible operate charging hubs. These hubs generate revenue for the condominium and make the building more sustainable, which strengthens the valuation of the real estate asset.
Today, no parking project gets off the ground without including charging for electric vehicles. In view of the trend of projects won by Zenpark in France, the company seeks to deploy and operate nearly 250 charging hubs in urban areas in shared car parks by 2026.
SOURCE: ZENPARK
