The food chain Feneberg and the cleantech company Numbat, both of which are based in Kempten in the Allgäu, want to set up an HPC network with an average of one fast charging station every ten kilometers. The plans are based on a Numbat HPC column with integrated battery storage.


Numbat reports that over 40 locations are planned in southern Germany. That would be around half of the Feneberg locations, around 80 locations are listed in the store finder on the grocer's homepage - from Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance in the east to Munich and Erding in the west and Augsburg and Ulm in the north. The majority of the branches, however, are concentrated around Kempten and the Allgäu as far as the Kleinwalsertal.

The communication does not specify which locations are to be equipped with the HPC. However, since the two partners promise to set up a fast charging station every ten kilometers on average, a focus on the region around Kempten is likely. Installation at Feneberg sites is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2022.

The HPC column from Numbat is - like other HPC with battery storage - somewhat larger due to the batteries, but can then be operated with a significantly weaker mains connection. A storage device of up to 200 kWh and a charging capacity of up to 300 kW is possible, as the company states. The battery storage should also support a "multi-lifecycle": It can not only be built from brand-new batteries ("first life"), but also as used "second life" - or even older "third life" batteries - or a combination of these. Feneberg manager Fischer calculates that with the solution "up to 2000 cars a year can be charged with our self-generated electricity".

According to Feneberg, the battery storage system and the associated possibility of storing your own PV power was the decisive factor in opting for Numbat. "As a sustainable supermarket chain, we are increasingly faced with the challenge of having to offer our customers the option of quickly charging their electric vehicle while they are shopping," says Nico Fischer, Head of Construction, Building and Energy Management at the grocery retailer Feneberg. “For our customers, fast charging is of paramount importance, but for us it must of course also be economically feasible. The cost of z. B. Installation, purchase and operation are simply too high with the currently existing models. "

Whether other HPCs with battery storage were considered in addition to the Numbat solution - such devices are also offered by the Nürtingen-based company ADS-TEC Energy or the cooperation between Volkswagen and E.ON - does not emerge from the announcement. The supermarket chain is strongly committed to regionally produced food and has its own production facilities such as a bakery and butcher shop for this purpose. The partnership with another company from Kempten fits into this strategy better than a cooperation with large corporations such as VW and E.ON.

"Our goal is to prove that fast charging stations can be created not only on motorways or hubs, but also everywhere through the combination of fast charging stations and battery storage in connection with our technology," say the founders of Numbat, Maximilian Wegener and Martin Schall. “Since our numbats do not have to be connected to the medium-voltage network, we avoid interfering with the infrastructure and major construction projects such as B. transformer house. "