New electric charging systems for university service cars

The University of Bologna has an innovative charging system for electric service cars. As part of the ZETA A project, which changed the use of service cars from a proprietary model to a fleet management system in shared use between the various structures and university employees, the following were installed:

2 Fast charger systems in Bologna and Cesena of 24 kW, capable of charging the vehicles in about two hours (each consisting of: a 24kW Fast charger column capable of powering a single car at the same time and two 22kW charging stations in Bologna, set up to recharge four vehicles in parallel).
1 22 kW charging system in Rimini, which in any case reduces the traditional charging time (from 8-9 hours to 5-6).

This system meets intra-university mobility needs in line with the Multicampus project, as the electric vehicles have sufficient range to travel between the Bologna and Rimini campuses, and can be recharged in the time it takes to hold a meeting.

The project also includes scientific research, including the analysis of electricity consumption and the development of innovative charging systems thanks to a partnership between AUTC and Professor Gabriele Grandi’s team in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi”.

The holistic approach of the ZETA A project promotes the use of the eco-compatible vehicle fleet by focusing both on the charging infrastructure and on the vehicles themselves, with the introduction of high-performance pure electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, alongside hybrid vehicles suitable for long distances. The charging stations are also connected to the c-Cloud platform, providing full remote control over each charging point and the availability of power consumption reports.

The charging systems installed in Bologna and Cesena represent the first step towards expanding the University’s network of fast charging systems and facilitating travel between the university sites.