From 19th to 25th September, MAHLE chargeBIG presented their charging infrastructure solution to interested visitors at the Test Drives and Plug & Play Campus at the IAA Transportation. Also test drivers had the opportunity to experience and test the charging process live on the chargeBIG charging infrastructure.

MAHLE chargeBIG GmbH has reached another milestone for the existing quality management system. Since 4th of August 2022, MAHLE chargeBIG complies to the requirements of the calibration law according to MessEV Appendix 4 Part B Module D. Module D is an additional certification to Module B (type examination certificate). Based on the module B approval, the module D approval was successfully achieved.

MAHLE chargeBIG transfers its processes to a quality management system according to ISO 9001 and receives the certification according to DIN ISO 9001:2015 from TÜV Rheinland. On 28 July, MAHLE chargeBIG GmbH receives the certification according to DIN ISO 9001:2015 from a representative of TÜV Rheinland.

Centralized AC fleet charging solution chargeBIG from MAHLE for applications from 18 charging points can also be controlled via the standard OCPP protocol in the future. With the implementation of the charging point communication standard OCPP 1.6, MAHLE chargeBIG is taking the next step towards an open and universally applicable charging solution.

17 multipliers from Greece visited the MAHLE headquarter in Stuttgart last week as part of an information trip. The innovative charging infrastructure solutions from chargeBIG were of particular interest to them.

MAHLE chargeBIG GmbH joins the Charging Interface Initiative and is committed to the further development of the Combined Charging System.
The Charging Interface Initiative (CharIN e.V.) is a registered association with the aim of further developing the Combined Charging System (CCS) in the field of electromobility and promoting it as a global charging standard. The focus is on the loading of two-wheelers and cars to trucks or buses, but also ships and aircraft. CharIN was founded in 2015 by several OEMs and market leaders in the value chain. With more than 260 members worldwide, the association continues to grow.

The MAHLE subsidiary chargeBIG is represented with its own exhibition booth at the “charging campus” in Hall 8 (Booth C38) and presents its intelligent AC charging solution for fleets, car park operators, the residential sector and other use cases from 18 to 100 or more charging points. On Thursday, 21st of April, Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Transport, Winfried Hermann, visited the chargeBIG booth together with local and press representatives during his official tour of the fair – a special honor for the young MAHLE team, which was happy to answer the questions of the high-ranking guests.

In spring 2021, MAHLE presented the charging solution for “chargeBIG” electric vehicles to four construction cooperatives, including the contract partner. Subsequently, three building cooperatives, among them the contracting partner, decided as the owner of the underground car park at the location Scharnhauserpark, Herzog-Carl-Straße 3 in 73760 Ostfildern, In a pilot project, MAHLE was commissioned to retrofit the underground car park with the chargeBIG charging solution. The installation of the chargeBIG solution with initially 17 of 36 possible charging points was completed at the beginning of 2022.

MAHLE chargeBIG, provider of a smart, scalable, and low-cost charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, remains on track for growth. The former corporate start-up is now an independent subsidiary of the MAHLE group. This will accelerate the automotive supplier’s transformation into a provider of sustainable mobility solutions and will also give the chargeBIG team greater operational freedom. The track record of MAHLE chargeBIG speaks for itself: since entering the market in 2018, around 1,500 charging points have already been sold to over 20 customers, and the current acquisition business is very successful. In addition, chargeBIG has concluded a development cooperation with power electronics specialist PRETTL Electronics Automotive to accelerate the market launch of its recently unveiled fast-charging solution chargeBIG POWER.

MAHLE chargeBIG was part of the VISION mobility THINK TANK “charging technology for fleets – installed quickly and flexibly” on 26th of January 2022. E-mobility recently picked up speed, which prompted many companies and municipalities to massively expand the charging infrastructure. In the THINK TANK, we discussed with experts what to consider and how to master the changeover flexibly, sustainably and future-proofen. Kurt Sigl, President of the Bundesverband eMobilität (BEM) e.V., Nicole Heinrich, responsible for sales and marketing of chargeBIG and Alexandra Traub, Team Leader Facility Management at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Germany GmbH, answered questions. chargeBIG has installed 108 charging points for employees, customers and visitors for Trelleborg Solutions in Stuttgart Vaihingen. To learn from this reference project, watch the video.

MAHLE chargeBIG as associated partner and charging infrastructure supplier in the GELaZ project. On 9th of December 2021 the project GELaZ that was funded by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy of Baden-Württemberg within the framework of the program INPUT (“Intelligent Grid Connection of Car Parks and Underground Garages”) was successfully completed.

MAHLE recently received two awards from the Chinese automotive trade media. MAHLE also received an award from the trade journal Automotive & Parts. The company won the “2021 China Automotive and Parts Industry Development and Innovation Award” for its innovative chargeBIG charging management system. To expand the charging system into the Chinese market, chargeBIG launched its first hardware demonstration program at the MAHLE Research and Development Center in Changshu this month. Additionally, chargeBIG is developing software tailored to the usage habits of Chinese consumers, which is expected to be released in the first half of 2022.

Public funding of charging infrastructure for fleets and employee parking spaces by the BMVI. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) promotes the installation of charging infrastructure for employee parking lots, for electric vehicles in company or municipal fleets, and for company vehicles. The new funding directive “Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles – Companies and Municipalities”, which are not accessible to the public, adds an important milestone for the increase of electric mobility.

Management-Holding “Schulz Group GmbH” installs 22 charging stations for electric cars at its headquarters in Ravensburg-Erlen. Instead of conventional filling stations and combustion engines, the Ravensburger Schulz Group is now focusing on decentralised charging stations and is thus setting an example for electromobility. For many people, e-mobility is still an offer of the future, but it has been part of our everyday lives for years. In the future, more and more cars with electric motors will be on the roads and will change the image of mobility in the long term. The Federal Government’s plan contributes to ten million electric cars and around one million charging points in Germany in 2030. With increasing registration numbers for electric cars, the number of charging options must also increase.

At the IAA Mobility 2021, the MAHLE technology group announced that it is expanding its intelligent charging solutions for electric cars. With the newly introduced chargeBIG Power charging management system, the nearly 1,000 chargeBIG charging points that have been installed for long-term parking are an important addition to fast charging with outputs of up to 750 kW. chargeBIG Power builds on the proven chargeBIG principle: the charging management system can be economically integrated into the existing infrastructure; particularly on long-distance routes, where there is still a lack of fast-charging options. Thanks to the intelligent control of the load distribution in the power grid, the charging system enables as many electric vehicles as possible to be charged from the available power supply at the same time. By selecting the tariff, the user can order the charging capacity that fits the electric vehicle and travel plan. And the charging points are very easy to operate.

On June 29th, the chargeBIG charging solution was realized at Marquard & Bahls AG in Hamburg. Marquard & Bahls chose the future-proof charging solution from MAHLE, because chargeBIG can be easily expanded and complies with legal requirements of the calibration law. Currently, 32 charging points are already installed on two parking levels, which means almost a quarter of all employee parking spaces are electrified. In the future, additional 32 charging points can be added without incurring any further costs for the sub-distribution cabinets.

On 13 July, Marita Funk, mayor of the city of Lorch and the neighbouring municipalities, visited the MAHLE plant in Lorch. Mrs. Funk was welcomed by the plant manager Jochen Scholz and the chargeBIG team. The personal acquaintance began with a look into the history of the plant, which dates back to 1954. Afterwards, they visited the recently built charging infrastructure for electric cars at the site. The potential cooperation between the city of Lorch and chargeBIG in the area of the public charging – for example at the local train station – was also discussed. The visit ended with an informative tour through the plant production areas of aluminium, sheet metal and plastic. In Lorch, a wide variety of technical parts, assemblies and end products for the combustion engine and for new fields of e-mobility are manufactured across all three material areas.

In March, a fully equipped charging cabinet with 36 single-phase charging points was put into operation at Cronimet in Karlsruhe. The project was implemented together with the partners eliso and Heldele. The charging points are used by the employees and company car owners of Cronimet and are initially accessible free of charge. At a later point in time, the payment system can be retrofitted. The supply cable to the charging cabinet is able to connect to a second charging cabinet and thus 36 charging points can be easily installed in the future.

MAHLE’s corporate start-up, chargeBIG, has successfully passed the VDE certification process with its charging solution for e-vehicles. With the support of the respective National Verification Authority, chargeBIG can now bill in compliance with the applicable legal requirements, meaning precise, comprehensible, permanently verifiable and storable. As the first provider in Germany, chargeBIG also offers its customers the opportunity to track charging on their smartphone in compliance with legal requirements using a meter progress indicator. The start-up from MAHLE has been successfully on the market since 2017 with a scalable intelligent charging solution for electric vehicles, which is particularly suitable for day and long-term parking. With chargeBIG it is possible to electrify as many parking spaces as possible at the same time with the lowest possible cost. Customers include Stuttgart Airport, the International Solar Energy Research Center in Konstanz, Cronimet Ferroleg GmbH, Schulz Group GmbH and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.

On 17 March, Dr. Anna Christmann, the MAHLE headquarters in Bad Cannstatt. The Member of Parliament is already familiar with MAHLE and informed herself during her visit in particular about the company’s innovation activities.

The state award of Baden-Württemberg “Wir machen Mobilitätswende!” honors people in companies, communities, and organizations who professionally implement ideas for sustainable mobility.

Real car love is when it keeps on sparking even without spark plugs. Nicole Heinrich from chargeBIG is taking part in CosmosDirekt’s Echte Autoliebe campaign, because tomorrow’s mobility needs to get on the road today. In the case of e-mobility, however, this only works if there are also enough charging stations along the road towards the future.

Among the 2020 SMAVARD winners, reflecting the diversity of smart city implementations and locations from across Europe, is MAHLE with its charging solution chargeBIG and the implementation project “Charging solution with 100 charging points in Stuttgart”. The award was presented by the company BABLE during the live conference at the Nordic Edge Expo.

MAHLE is opening a Start-Up Space in Stuttgart/Germany for its corporate start-ups and teams developing novel business concepts in the Incubator. Since 2017, the Incubator has been an established group-wide program supporting the development of new business ideas and a key part of MAHLE’s innovation strategy.