Finland's carbon neutrality goal requires a leading edge in the development of vehicle charging infrastructure. Electric vehicles cannot be commissioned without the necessary charging solutions. The use of commercial vehicles and urban maintenance equipment will soon require a suitable public fast-charging infrastructure. However, it is not advisable for different actors to start building their own charging infrastructure in silos. Instead, it would be sensible to build the infrastructure for the benefit of different users. This reduces the need for total investment, improves charging efficiency and charger utilisation, and allows new vehicle categories to be electrified faster.
mySMARTLife has implemented several actions aimed at promoting electronic transport, one of which is the Hakaniemi shared use charger. The aim of the action is to promote the electrification of traffic by developing the charging infrastructure for heavy vehicles.
The Hakaniemi co-charging point, located in the city center of Helsinki, is based on the pantograph charging point for electric buses, to which the possibility of charging external commercial vehicles, such as city distribution trucks or city maintenance equipment, has also been added with a standard combined charging system (CCS) charging plug. The charging point for vehicles outside the bus traffic is located separately from the bus stop, and the charging device also prioritises the charging power so that the bus traffic does not suffer from the operation of external chargers. Also, for external chargers, the user experience is designed to be as pleasant and easy as possible.
Alongside the development of charging equipment for heavy vehicles, the introduction of electric vehicles must also be promoted. The pilot vehicles will be the Niinivirta electric truck, which is used for city distribution in Helsinki, the city maintenance truck to be converted from an old diesel truck to an electric one in the Stara eRetrofit project, and the all-electric waste truck piloted by Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY). These vehicles will be used to test the Hakaniemi shared charger, but discussions are also underway with other potential pilot testers. For example, for small transport companies, public fast-charging infrastructure will allow for a more flexible use of the electric vehicle when the operating distance of the electronic equipment is not a constraint on daily transport performance. The public heavy vehicle charging infrastructure also enables the electrification of city machines, both in terms of maintenance and construction.
In order to map the possibilities of commercially constructed charging fields, a study project is underway in the Helsinki Open Charging System (HOCS) project, owned by Helsinki’s public transport services (HSL) and coordinated by mySMARTLife partner Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), which has benefited from the groundwork done in the mySMARTLife project.
Find more information on the Hakaniemi Electromobility Charging Node here.
