The Deputy Minister for Technology, Innovation and Competitiveness of the Basque Government, Estíbaliz Hernáez, presided over the inauguration of the first rapid charging stations for electric vehicles using technology from Basque companies within the framework of the AZKARGA project, which had the support of the Department for Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government through the ETORGAI programme.

The Deputy Minister was accompanied by the Director for Technology and Strategy of the Basque Country, Iosu Madariaga and representatives of the Basque Energy Board (EVE) and Bilbao City Council, as well as Ingeteam (project leader), EDS, IBERDROLA, Ibil, ZIV and the Basque Energy Cluster, who have collaborated during three years in the execution of the project, developing the most advanced electric charging, communication, energy management and pricing technologies.

At this event two rapid charging stations were opened at the IBERDROLA headquarters in Larraskitu (Bilbao) and the Repsol Gas Station (MegaPark, Barakaldo), operated by IBERDROLA and Ibil, respectively, charging leaders on a domestic level.

The product

The AZKARGA charger is the first fully-functional quick charging station for electric vehicles that has been developed entirely by Basque companies, including electronic recharging, control and communications, software algorithms, electric installations in real locations and the associated casings.

These stations allow charging of electric cars in less than 20 minutes using COMBO CCS, CHAdeMO systems at 50kW and an alternating current system: Modo 3 at 43kW. Likewise, they have integrated advanced communication capacities with vehicles, facilitating inter-operability and offering added-value services to clients and users of electric vehicles, while guaranteeing competitive costs per supplied energy unit.

AZKARGA contributes to reduce the hurdles preventing the expansion of electric vehicle use - the shortage of fast charging points that would allow for trips that are longer than the cars’ autonomy, due to high costs and the diversity of fast charging stations for different car models.

The members of the consortium have formed a multidisciplinary and complementary team of relevant agents of the electric vehicles value chain in the Basque Country, which has also had the support from an Advisory Board formed by representatives of car manufacturers with a clear and decisive commitment to electric-powered mobility, such as BMW, Nissan, Renault and Volkswagen.

The project has contributed to position the Basque industry in the field of electric vehicles and its charging infrastructures, a sector that has had remarkable advances and maintains a high growth expectancy in the following years.

About the session: “Rapid charging: a reality made in Euskadi”

A session titled “Recarga rápida: una realidad made in Euskadi” (Rapid charging, a reality made in Euskadi) was held at the Euskalduna Conference Centre (Bilbao), which revealed the results of the AZKARGA project within the international fast charging context.

The Deputy Minister participated at the opening session alongside a relevant panel of speakers in representation of the Spanish Business Association for the Boosting and Development of the Electric Vehicle Market (AEDIVE), the Industrial Association CharIN E.V. for the promotion and development of the CCS fast DC charging standard, the Association for the development of the CHAdeMO fast charging protocol, and leading electric car manufacturers in their sector such as BMW, Nissan and Volkswagen, in addition to the companies that have collaborated in the project. 

Photos of the first EV rapid charging stations: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm2XYuEm