Chakratec, a leading provider of kinetic energy storage technology for electric vehicle (EV) charging, has announced the completion of a project with Premier Inn, a British hotel chain and the UK’s largest hotel brand, enabling guests at the hotel’s Leipzig, Germany, location to charge their EVs throughout their stay.
Premier Inn is the first to deploy Chakratec’s unique new charging technology in Germany. This is also the first indoor installation of its kind. The partnership was initiated by GHH Business Consult and EES Tübingen.
Chakratec provides Premier Inn with an optimal solution for EV charging, circumventing the hotel’s problem of insufficient power in the grid. At most of Premier Inn’s city center locations the grid is too weak to provide the required power for EV charging.
To overcome this hurdle, energy storage must be added to the chargers to “boost” the grid. This is done by applying Chakratec’s proprietary kinetic energy storage technology Kinetic Power Booster (KPB). The KPB stores the electricity as kinetic energy in a fast-rotating flywheel, which presents two major advantages.
Unlimited high-power charge and discharge cycles (more than 150,000) without degradation over the full system lifetime of 20 years. Since it is a non-chemical technology, it is also a sustainable and reusable system, as opposed to toxic and polluting chemical batteries.
Flexible configurations make Chakratec’s solution suitable for indoor or underground sites, as well as retrofit or new building projects. In addition to enabling EV charging, its efficient energy management system manages peak loads to prevent high demand charges, while further add-on applications such as back-up power systems (BPS) ensure that EV chargers are always online and ready-to-use.
These features are important for Premier Inn, which often requires indoor deployments and a solution that could be used as a BPS to its elevator system during power outages. Premier Inn selected Leipzig as the first location to adopt the technology, with plans for expansion to its new sites throughout Germany over the next five years.
Germany requires all new and renovated commercial buildings to have 20 percent of parking spaces equipped with the appropriate pre-wiring for EV charging.
Chakratec is enabling Premier Inn to meet this requirement wherever its hotels are located: city centers, suburbs and airports. Chakratec is also supporting Premier Inn’s ambitious sustainability goals, including its commitment to reduce its carbon emissions intensity by 50% by 2050, and its aim to reach net-zero on its scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2050.
Heino Schönwandt, Head of Asset- und Facility Management at Premier Inn:
By implementing Chakratec’s Kinetic Power Booster technology, we are able to offer our customers EV charging services without needing to upgrade our existing infrastructure.
“The fact that the technology is sustainable both environmentally and economically makes it a perfect fit for our efforts to make our operations cleaner and more environmentally friendly”.
Nir Zohar, Chief Customer Officer at Chakratec said:
We are very proud to be working with an establishment such as Premier Inn, with hotels throughout Europe in diverse locations.
“This partnership demonstrates how Chakratec facilitates the deployment of fast charging stations anywhere, including locations with a weak grid. Besides being our first deployment in Germany, it is also our first indoor system. We are very excited and sure that this collaboration will benefit all involved parties and the environment.”
Gero Hohmuth, Owner GHH Business Consult:
Premier Inn is the new innovative hotel chain, which has recognized that market positioning at eye level must go hand in hand with technological and ecological development.
“Innovations can also have a manageable ROI – with a unique selling point. Sustainably lower costs and absolute added value for the target group. I am pleased that Premier Inn is the first company in Germany to use this innovative system as an answer to the challenges of the energy transition.”
Alexander Dappen, Owner EES Tübingen:
“While conventional chemical storage systems have to be replaced after approx. 5,000 charging cycles, the kinetic power booster manages more than 150,000 charging cycles enabling it to provide its service for 20 years. With this, Chakratec creates clear facts for a truly green storage system, supporting Premier Inn’s goal to cut carbon emissions intensity in half by 2025!”
Chakratec Partners with Premier Inn on First Kinetic EV Charging Installation in Germany, Israel, February 9, 2021
