The LamA project – charging points at the workplace

In 2017, a total of 70 German cities exceeded statutory thresholds for nitrogen oxides, some of them by a substantial margin. In response, federal government launched an emergency program – entitled “Saubere Luft 2017–2020” – to improve air quality in built-up areas. In line with this program, Fraunhofer IAO is now working to bring about a significant increase in charging facilities for electric vehicles in municipal areas with particularly high NOx levels. The LamA project focuses on the provision of charging points at the workplace. It is targeting an annual reduction of around 100 metric tons of nitrogen oxides.

LamA is a collaborative project involving seven Fraunhofer institutes:

• Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
• Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
•  Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI
• Fraunhofer Institute for High-Speed Dynamics, Ernst-Mach-Institut, EMI
• Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT
• Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM
• Fraunhofer Institute for Transport and Infrastructure Systems IVI

The project is to provide new charging points at a total of 18 Fraunhofer locations. These are being made available not only to employees and vehicles of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft but also to other users such as nearby residents. Flagship projects are running at Fraunhofer locations in Stuttgart, Freiburg and Dresden, where there is also an investigation into new business models arising from an amalgamation of vehicle management and recharging services for company fleets. This will include the provision of a booking app to enable vehicle reservations and vehicle sharing.

The LamA project aims to make the use of electric vehicles more reliable, efficient, sustainable and cheaper. The new charging points are to be incorporated in the existing grid in such a way that they do not lead to overloads. The aim of the project is to advance green options for company transport and to support employee mobility.