Austrian Post is the leading logistics and postal service provider in the country. In order to switch to a fully electric fleet by 2030, they needed the corresponding charging infrastructure, as well as a smart energy management system to make it feasible.
As a forward-thinking postal and logistics company, Austrian Post realized the importance of guaranteeing sustainable delivery by transitioning to a fully electric fleet by 2030. This involved replacing their entire fleet, as well as installing over 8,000 electric vehicle charging stations. An additional challenge, however, was the added electricity demand from charging fleets and the added strain on the grid.
Rather than undergoing expensive grid extensions, Austrian Post chose to rely on XENON for a dynamic load management solution, which intelligently controls charging processes and prevents overloads to ensure that operations are not interrupted. XENON's modular architecture allowed the seamless integration of the existing charging stations, in cooperation with the manufacturers, directly on site within just one week. This meant that all systems were compatible with XENON and charging processes could be optimized across all charge points.
The charging requirements for logistics differs from many other use cases. Because most electric vehicles are used throughout the day, the EV charging stations are effectively all occupied at night. Robust local connections ensure that no network outages affect charging and thus cannot jeapardize the tours for the following day.
In addition, the limited availability of electricity and high charging requirements of many of the delivery trucks – at least 6 amps on average – not all vehicles can be charged at the same time. Our XENON platform, in combination with the Grid Protector module, allows users to define their own charging strategy to meet individual needs. Austrian Post was able to define a sequential charging strategy that ensures each car is sufficiently charged overnight. This guarantees that the entire electric fleet is always ready to complete the next day's tour.
Soly is a leading European company in the new energy services sector. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Soly was founded in 2013 and has since successfully established itself in five international markets, both in and outside of Europe, including the United Kingdom and South Africa. The scale-up aims to become the leading international utility of the future.
Dutch solar installer Soly has been successfully collaborating with gridX since summer of 2023. Together, the two companies have rolled out their smart energy management solution, Soly Brain, which gives Soly’s customers access to additional smart energy services for their homes. gridX’s energy management technology, the XENON platform and the local energy gateway, serve as the core of the digital infrastructure on which Soly has built its own energy management app and other digital end-customer solutions. gridX technology empowers Soly households to automatically and efficiently manage their electricity consumption, reduce costs and maximize the use of their self-generated solar power. Dynamic tariffs can also be optimally utilized, as the energy management system continuously balances solar production, energy consumption and electricity prices in real-time.