A new scheme is to clean the air over the German capital by installing on-street charging infrastructure. With lamp post charging provider Ubitricity at the centre, the consortium is planning to add 1,600 public and private charge points to Berlin’s network beginning this year.

Moreover, research institutions such as the TU Berlin and the DLR accompany the initiative from a scientific point of view. Dubbed “Sofortprogramm Saubere Luft”, a title suggesting immediacy (sofort means instant) and the need for clean air, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) provides the funding. The scheme is part of an effort to decrease NOx emission levels in cities the EU had fined over pollution.

The solution in Berlin is to install 1,600 charge points. A thousand of those will be publicly accessible, while GASAG, a utility and project partner, plans to add another 600 private charge points at commercial buildings and apartment blocks.

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For Ubitricity as the chosen technology partner it is not the first such project explains Dr. Frank Pawlitschek, CEO and Co-Founder. He points to a similar roll-out of street lamp charging in London, where Ubitricity has been active since 2016 and now has around 300 charge posts. More are to come reportedly through the Go-ultra Low City Scheme that provides £3.7 million to help deliver on-street charging points across London boroughs.

Ubitricity uses a so-called SmartCable that enables mobile metering once connected to a lamp post fitted with charging technology. Once charging begins, the user’s chosen electricity provider receives the data digitally and builds the basis for billing.

Yet the next step of the project is to enable access to the entire charging infrastructure of Berlin. For this, Hubject stands ready to include mobile metering in their intercharge network.

Moreover the partners hope to transfer their findings to other municipalities building charging infrastructure eventually. A website to report their progress is currently under construction.

neueberlinerluft.de (project website), ubitricity.com (press release, in German)