CiLoCharging

The development of a comprehensive, optimized solution for temporal and organizational processes in a logistics hub with battery electric vehicles (BEV) calls for the integration of all the specifications for the originally different and separate areas of logistics, charging setup for electrically powered vehicles, energy supply and traffic management: 

• Logistics: Availability of the vehicles at specific times and for specific routes
• Charging infrastructure:
  (a) Current charging status and resulting range
  (b) Required charging and deployment times of the vehicles
  (c) Possibility to make quick and spontaneous deliveries
• Energy supply:
  (a) Scalable and reliable electricity supply at the grid connection point of the distribution network and the logistics hub
  (b) Bidirectional power flow out of and into the distribution network
• Traffic management: Possibility for recharging in the town/city in the event of longer delivery routes 

To be able to take the overall conditions typical for express logistics adequately into consideration, charging management must be integrated into existing logistics processes, and smart energy management must also be in place so that electrified logistics hubs can be integrated into the electricity grid, thus ensuring the scalability of fleet depots in an economical way. 

The number of vehicles in the hub must be able to increase exponentially without the need for expensive investment in infrastructure, e.g., in expansion of the grid connection. In addition, the hub can function towards the distribution network operator as a provider of grid-related services, such as control energy, and utilize existing battery capacities in the hub for this purpose. 

The aim of the CiLoCharging project is the development, prototypical implementation, and evaluation of a suitable solution both in a simulation environment as well as in the framework of field tests on site in a logistics hub. Leading partners are working in the individual areas together with acknowledged research institutions on an optimized, flexible, and needs-based solution for requirement-oriented integration and will showcase it at the end of the project.