News

Dr Matthias Kreimeier becomes new CEO of chargeBIG

With a new training concept, chargeBIG wants to train its installation partners from installation to maintenance and handling of the partner portal.

MAHLE chargeBIG is taking part in the Fraunhofer “BiFlex-Industrie” funding project for bidirectional charging and remains true to its business model.

The environmental technology award of the state of Baden-Württemberg 2023 goes to MAHLE chargeBIG. The subsidiary of the automotive supplier MAHLE wins in the category “measurement, control and regulation technology, Industry 4.0” with the charging solution chargeBIG6. It is specially designed for charging electric cars in apartment buildings and for smaller fleets.

MAHLE chargeBIG wins the second Stuttgart Innovation Award in the category “mobility” and thus 25,000 euros in prize money. At the award ceremony on October 18, 2023 in Stuttgart’s city hall, the prize was handed over to chargeBIG by Lord Mayor Dr Frank Nopper.

Together with BABLE Smart Cities, Nicole Dötterer from MAHLE chargeBIG spoke about the future of charging infrastructure, the challenges and the solution for municipalities. Pilot projects and experience reports were shared with the participants.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was impressed by MAHLE’s innovations for sustainable mobility. During his traditional opening tour at the IAA Mobility in Munich, Scholz visited the booth of the technology group from Stuttgart.

The Charge@BW funding has been newly launched with a duration until end of June 2024. Either 40% or up to €2,500 per charging point can be funded. In the case of condominium owners, the same applies per charging station, as only the installation costs are covered for shared apartments.

MAHLE chargeBIG is a provider of charging infrastructure for the STOPA Energy Campus. This project supports climate neutrality.

The City of Stuttgart is supporting ten other innovative climate projects and MAHLE chargeBIG is also involved. With the “Stuttgart Island – chargeBIG18 Off Grid” project, MAHLE chargeBIG aims to establish and operate a grid-independent charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

MAHLE chargeBIG was once again part of Power2Drive Europe, the international trade fair for charging infrastructure and electromobility. A special highlight was the chargeBIG charging cabinet, which was present for the first time in real size at an event.

MAHLE chargeBIG presented the new chargeBIG6 charging system at the MAHLE TechTalk with the Autodoktoren. The live talk took place in the car workshop of the Autodoktoren near Cologne.

Dr Matthias Kreimeier joined MAHLE chargeBIG as CSO (Chief Sales Officer) on March 1 2023. With the experience from another start-up in the e-mobility industry outside the MAHLE world, he actively supports the further development and scaling of chargeBIG.

On May 4 2023, an in-house exhibition took place in our office in Stuttgart. Participants were able to learn more about our intelligent charging solutions. The focus was on our solution for apartment buildings and small businesses. The chargeBIG team presented the new solution with all its advantages and the participants were able to test the shop directly on site. The interested parties included electricians, building technicians, project developers, municipal councils, chairpersons of residential owner communities and much more.

MAHLE chargeBIG successfully realizes its first project for public charging infrastructure. The subsidiary of the MAHLE Group thus achieves another milestone and assumes the public operating role at this location. The 28 charging points for electric vehicles were installed at Lorch train station in the P&R car park.

MAHLE and Ideanomics Inc. conclude a strategic partnership for intelligent fleet charging solutions. The listed American tech company and the Stuttgart-based technology group are thus jointly accelerating the market ramp-up of the chargeBIG system in North America. The signing of the contract took place on February 7 at MAHLE in Stuttgart.

MAHLE is now making charging of electric vehicles possible even for smaller applications, such as in apartment buildings, workshops, or small businesses. With the new MAHLE chargeBIG6, up to six electric
vehicles can be charged simultaneously at the existing house connection in the future. The central charging distributor is connected to the existing electricity meter. Thanks to Plug & Play, the system is easy to install, inexpensive and can be expanded by six additional bays at any time. MAHLE chargeBIG has already successfully established itself on the market with its centralized and intelligent charging infrastructure for drivers who leave their cars in a parking lot all day, fleet operators, and large application areas with 18 charging points or more, and is now expanding its range of products for small users with the new offering.

Over 30 public charging points connected at Stuttgart Airport in P2 parking garage. DKV Mobility, the leading European B2B platform for on-the-road payments and solutions, is expanding its charging network to include 31 public charge points in the P2 multi-storey parking lot at Stuttgart Airport, operated via MAHLE chargeBIG GmbH.

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.

The Ministry for the Environment, Climate and Energy Management of Baden-Württemberg awards the Baden-Württemberg Environmental Technology Prize every two years.

First place for intelligent MAHLE charging structure in the category “Excellence in Business to Business – Automotive Technologies” chargeBIG is an intelligent charging solution for all-day parkers of e-vehicles Jury praises chargeBIG as a “major step on the road to e-mobility” MAHLE CEO Dr. Jörg Stratmann: “Award demonstrates the innovative strength of the MAHLE Group” The MAHLE Corporate start-up chargeBIG has secured first place at the German Innovation Award 2020 in the category “Excellence in Business to Business – Automotive Technologies”. MAHLE won this competition, whichwas hosted for the third time by the German Design Council, with its charging infrastructure solution for electric vehicles. An intelligent charging solution for all-day parkers, chargeBIG can be integrated – costeffectively and easily – in the existing infrastructure. The jury praises chargeBIG as a “major step on the road to e-mobility”. MAHLE’s e-charging system is already being successfully used at Stuttgart airport as well as by the “Landesbank Baden-Württemberg” bank (LBBW). “I am delighted that the German Design Council has awarded our intelligentcharging infrastructure approach for all-day parkers with the first prize, thus also recognizing the creativity of our corporate start-up chargeBIG”, says Dr. Jörg Stratmann, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of MAHLE. “This award demonstrates MAHLE’s power to innovate and our expertise in developing innovative products that are perfectly tailored to the needs of markets and customers”. In the opinion of the panel of judges: “One of the handicaps of using e-vehicles is that an adequate charging infrastructure with sufficiently fast charging points is still not in place. MAHLE realized that short-distance commuters, in particular,have no need at all for fast charging points. As the cars invariably remain in the parking lot during the day, they can be charged using the slower and hence cheaper method that uses charging outputs of up to 7.2 kilowatt. With its innovative product, MAHLE is actually going one step further – by integrating the vehicles into an intelligent load management system. This is a powerful system that makes optimum use of existing resources while being comparatively costeffective. As such, it constitutes a major step on the road to e-mobility”. Intelligent charging for long-stay parkersWith its chargeBIG system, MAHLE is offering an ideal solution for parking lots where electric vehicles are left for extended periods, as in company parking garages, at airports, for fleet operators, or in underground garages for large building complexes. MAHLE’s chargeBIG system is not about charging as quickly as possible, but charging as quickly as necessary, while serving as many vehicles as possible at the same time. Sophisticated but affordable technologyInstead of individual charging columns in the parking lot, the chargeBIG charging concept uses a central control unit with permanently installed cables that regulates the power supply to the vehicles. This eliminates the need to invest in expanding the grid connection, thus saving time and money when setting up the charging infrastructure. A central control unit distributes the available charging capacity across theparked vehicles using dynamic, phase-specific load management. This ensures optimal utilization of the available power supply. As an option, MAHLE chargeBIG also offers the charging solution as a package, which includes installation, service and maintenance. The meter solution for billing per charging point in compliance with calibration law, which is currently in the process of being certified, can be used in future to accurately bill each charging process down to. the last kilowatt hour. Charging points are accessed via an app and a QR code scan. Founded in 1953 on the initiative of the German Federal Parliament, the German Design Council presents the German Innovation Award for trendsetting innovations that have a lasting impact and provide added value to users. “This year’s competition attracted 700 entries overall. Awards were presented for innovations in a total of 40 categories in two competition classes “Excellence in Business to Consumer” and “Excellence in Business to Business”. About MAHLEMAHLE is a leading international development partner and supplier to theautomotive industry as well as a pioneer for the mobility of the future. TheMAHLE Group is committed to making transportation more efficient, moreenvironmentally friendly, and more comfortable by continuously optimizing the combustion engine, driving forward the use of alternative fuels, and laying the foundation for the worldwide introduction of e-mobility. The group’s product portfolio addresses all the crucial issues relating to the powertrain and air conditioning technology—both for drives with combustion engines and for emobility. MAHLE products are fitted in at least every second vehicle worldwide. Components and systems from MAHLE are also used off the road—in stationary applications, for mobile machinery, rail transport, as well as marine applications. In 2019, the group generated sales of approximately EUR 12.0 billion with more than 77,000 employees and is represented in over 30 countries with 160 production locations. At 16 major research and development centers in Germany,Great Britain, Luxembourg, Spain, Slovenia, the USA, Brazil, Japan, China, and India, more than 6,100 development engineers and technicians are working on innovative solutions for the mobility of the future. For further information, contact: Margarete DingerCorporate Press OfficerPhone: +49 711 501-12369Email: margarete.dinger@mahle.com Christopher RimmelePress Officer, Product & TechnologyPhone: +49 711 501-12374Email: christopher.rimmele@mahle.com

Electric vehicles with batteries or fuel cells, renewable energies and charging infrastructure, synthetic fuels and state-of-the-art manufacturing – the solutions for tomorrow’s mobility are already being developed in Baden-Württemberg today

Stuttgart/Germany, July 16, 2019 – Today, MAHLE celebrates the go-live of 100 chargeBIG charging points for electric vehicles in the company’s own parking garage in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt/Germany. This event is MAHLE’s contribution toward the day of action organized by the Bündnis für Luftreinhaltung, a local alliance to combat air pollution. One hundred charging points go into operation in the company’s own parking garagechargeBIG ist ein zentralisiertes und skalierbares Ladeinfrastrukturkonzept für Tagesparker und Flottenbetreiber Low-cost and time-saving integration into existing infrastructure “Our corporate start-up chargeBIG has a vision: in the future, the charging of electric vehicles will be widespread, low cost, very easy, and clever. Today, this vision has become a reality in Bad Cannstatt,” explains Dr. Jörg Stratmann, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of MAHLE. round 120 guests from the fields of politics, business, and science are expected to attend the event on MAHLE’s parking deck to find out about the intelligent charging structure as well as the fast charging unit with battery storage. Anyone traveling in their own electric vehicle will be able to connect to one of the new chargeBIG charging points and test the system directly. The development of the charging infrastructure in MAHLE’s parking garage is the result of a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology (BMWi) and carried out in collaboration with partners Fraunhofer ITWM and eliso. “chargeBIG is a smart, pragmatic solution that has come about in a lively start-up environment—with a fantastic team spirit, huge commitment, and great enthusiasm,” says Dr. Stratmann. Intelligent charge management system for long-stay parking chargeBIG is an intelligent charge management system for users of long-stay parking and can be integrated into the existing infrastructure at low cost and without protracted conversion work. The system follows a new approach: charging as quickly as necessary rather than charging as quickly as possible. And it is intended for use by as many vehicles as possible, among which the amount of electricity available is distributed intelligently. The chargeBIG system is an ideal solution for parking lots where electric vehicles are left for relatively long periods of time—as in company parking garages, at airports, in underground garages for large residential buildings, and in the case of fleet operators. The chargeBIG charging concept consists of a central control unit with permanently mounted cables and connector plugs instead of charging columns in the parking lot. Thanks to the intelligent charging system and design-to-cost approach, there is no need to invest in expanding the network connection, thus saving time and money when setting up the charging infrastructure. A central control unit distributes the available charging capacity across the parked vehicles using dynamic, phase-specific load management. This prevents unbalanced loads in the power supply. chargeBIG responds flexibly to other consumers on the network and uses the electric vehicles as a controllable load, ensuring optimal utilization of the available power supply. In addition, the chargeBIG solution is more convenient to install and look after than alternative systems, as the charging points can be maintained very easily via the central electronics. The system offers a further advantage in terms of safety, because the charging points are de-energized when not in use. Air quality action day The unveiling of the charging points is also MAHLE’s contribution toward the day of action organized by the Bündnis für Luftreinhaltung. This alliance of major Stuttgart-based companies to combat air pollution was officially launched in spring 2019 with the support of the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, the German federal state in which MAHLE is headquartered. The joint goal of the alliance is, as far as possible, to keep the city’s air quality within the relevant limit values for nitrogen oxide and fine particulates from 2020. For this reason, the participating companies aim to use numerous measures to exert a positive influence on their employees’ transport choices. About MAHLE MAHLE is a leading international development partner and supplier to the automotive industry as well as a pioneer for the mobility of the future. The MAHLE Group is committed to making transportation more efficient, more environmentally friendly, and more comfortable by continuously optimizing the combustion engine, driving forward the use of alternative fuels, and laying the foundation for the worldwide introduction of e-mobility. The group’s product portfolio addresses all the crucial issues relating to the powertrain and air conditioning technology—both for drives with combustion engines and for e-mobility. MAHLE products are fitted in at least every second vehicle worldwide. Components and systems from MAHLE are also used off the road—in stationary applications, for mobile machinery, rail transport, as well as marine applications. In 2018, the group generated sales of approximately EUR 12.6 billion with more than 79,000 employees and is represented in over 30 countries with 160 production locations. At 16 major research and development centers in Germany, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Spain, Slovenia, the USA, Brazil, Japan, China, and India, more than 6,100 development engineers and technicians are working on innovative solutions for the mobility of the future. For further information, contact: MAHLE GmbHMargarete DingerCorporate Communications/Public RelationsPragstraße 26–4670376 Stuttgart/Germany Phone: +49 711 501-12369margarete.dinger@mahle.com

Ministerial Director Helmfried Meinel, Head of Office at the Ministry for the Environment, Climate and Energy Management Baden-Württemberg,

By purchasing a chargeBIG charging system, Stuttgart Airport has opted for a low-cost solution from MAHLE for the electrification of its employee and vehicle fleet parking spaces.