Together with TankE GmbH and the City of Cologne, Rheinmetall is launching a pilot project to test curb chargers in public traffic areas. The aim of the project is to integrate and pilot the curb chargers developed by Rheinmetall in the urban area. (Earlier post.)

In the process, the acceptance as well as the urban planning and design advantages will be validated. Following the signing of a corresponding letter of intent in May 2023, the official kick-off for the roll-out on site was 25 April 2024. The curb chargers will initially be tested extensively in real-life operation at two locations in the city.

We are a city in transition and want to actively shape modern, environmentally friendly mobility. Hence, we want to implement future-orientated concepts at an early stage to master the challenges—together with our partners. For us, the curb charger has the great advantage as it can be used in the existing infrastructure of the public road space, apart from the connection box. This benefits important issues such as the necessary clear pavement widths, visual axes, avoidable overbuilding of media supply in the pavement, monument protection in planning and implementation. The curbside technology is therefore much less complicated than a conventional charging station. We are looking forward to the experience.

—Ascan Egerer, Alderman for Mobility of the City of Cologne

The intelligent use of existing urban infrastructure with high charging performance makes the Rheinmetall curb charger a space-saving alternative to a conventional charging station. This solves the problem of lacking availability of space in urban areas for the fast, flexibly scalable and cost-effective installation of freely accessible public charging stations. This unique characteristic was significant for the city and the network operator to award the contract.