Better Place, the company that delivers network services for electric cars, reached a milestone with the opening of Europe’s first battery switch station in Gladsaxe, Denmark. Technical consultant ALECTIA was chosen to design and manage Better Place’s first battery switch station in Denmark, based on their extensive experience from fully-automatic parking systems.

On June 28^th the first battery switch station for electric cars in Denmark and Europe was opened by the Danish Minister of Climate and Energy Lykke Friis.

The battery switch station is located in Gladsaxe between the Motorring 3 and Hillerød motorways and it is the first of several battery switch station networks Better Place plans to build nationwide.

Better Place’s environmentally-minded solution is based on utilising excess wind turbine power at night to charge their batteries. Their greatest challenge is that battery ranges are currently approx. 160 km. By establishing a network of battery switch stations, drivers can quickly get a fully recharged battery on longer trips, allowing electric cars to become a commonly used vehicle for all journeys.

A future high-tech version of the petrol station
In Gladsaxe, the battery switch station is designed with integrated flexibility for future extension. The switch lane part of the battery switch station is the size of a car wash. Here, the battery switch is done automatically by robots that first wash the underside of the car and then transfer the car to an area where the battery is exchanged through an opening in the switch lane floor. This is a future high-tech version of the current petrol station.

Project manager and civil engineer in ALECTIA Mark Howell says: “It has been extremely interesting and challenging to be involved in the design of a ground-breaking project, such as Europe’s first battery switch station. In a development process where “time to market” is critical, we had to accept that parameters would change during the design and construction process based on experience gained from on-going parallel projects in Israel.”

“The project has required collaboration and readiness for change, and this has made it very exciting. The challenge has been to take an Israeli concept built for their climatic conditions and transfer this to best practice within the Danish and European design standards and legislation. For instance, heating and cooling requirements are very different and this has affected how we dimensioned the Danish battery switch station.”

Comprehensive high-tech consultancy
ALECTIA are the technical consultants on the project, providing design services covering structural engineering, fire safety engineering, automation, cooling, heating, ventilation and sprinkling, as well as construction management, construction supervision and site safety coordination. As a result of the focus on safety, there have been zero accidents throughout the entire construction period of almost one year.  

Experience gained from the design of the first battery switch station has been used to improve the design through a Value Engineering exercise. ALECTIA has helped shape the development of future switch stations, by proposing lighter structures, optimization of operational costs and other changes making the battery switch stations better, cheaper and with an improved sustainability profile.   

Better Place: Employees should have the option of choosing an electric car
ALECTIA has entered a Vision Partner Agreement with Better Place. One of the results of the agreement is that Better Place will install charge spots at ALECTIA. Read more about ALECTIA’s collaboration with Better Place: Employees should have the option of choosing the electric car.