Virta starts Plug&Charge EV charging in France

EV charging platform provider Virta, charge point provider Efacec, the Departmental Energy association of Yonne (SDEY) and Hubject have started a co-operation to offer Plug&Charge.

This technology relies on the ISO 15118 standard for communication between electric vehicles and the grid using digital certificates. Once the car is plugged in, the charger receives encrypted data from the car and the payment processing is handled in the background. The driver plugs in the car and it works – simple as that.

“Efacec is very pleased to contribute to the development of Electric Mobility in France”, says Duarte Ferreira, Global Business Development Director, adding that “Projects like Plug&Charge allow us to continue providing our products and know-how to make sustainable mobility a reality in Europe”.

Christian Hahn, CEO of Hubject: “We are extremely pleased to be part of this end-to-end test, which aims at jointly boosting the future of electric mobility. France is a market where we have always been investing a lot and we are proud to be an innovation accelerator here with our Plug&Charge ecosystem”.

“In Yonne, we believe in innovation to promote sustainable mobility and in European cooperation. We are constantly looking for innovative, user-friendly and secure models that improve the use of electric vehicles. We are happy to collaborate once again with high class international partners and with this project we are upgrading our charging infrastructure to a new level”, says Jean-Noël Loury, president of SDEY.

Allan Ahlgren, Vice President of Sales at Virta, comments: ”As Virta has a long tradition of doing business in France, we are especially delighted that this pilot project will take place in Yonne. Traditionally, Virta has been in the front line with new developments and also now we want to be among the first ones implementing new technologies into the user phase. Virta is very pleased to be able to start the pilot with a group where all participants are world leaders in the field of EV car charging.”

Photo1: From left to right: Allan Ahlgren, Managing Director of Virta France / Duarte Ferreira, Group Business Development Manager of Efacec /Jean-Noël Loury, President of the SDEY /Loïs Warner, Head of Market Development at Hubject / Xavier Pintat - President of the FNCCR

Virta

Virta Ltd. is the innovation leader of the EV charging platforms, providing leading-edge services to connect vehicle charging with renewable energies utilising the latest industry technologies, such as Vehicle-2-Grid, Dynamic Load Management and Identify-by-Wire that are fully customisable and white-label, the company is pushing the EV industry forward. Virta is building a tomorrow where EV charging is hassle-free, readily available and a natural part of infrastructure and the energy system. By providing a smart platform, Virta connects all the key players in the EV ecosystem. No matter your charging needs, Virta has your back.

SDEY

SDEY owns networks spanning more than 4,000 km and manages electricity and gas networks on behalf of its member municipalities. The association thus oversees the maintenance of an efficient public energy distribution service in terms of quality and safety.

While rural electrification remains the core business of SDEY, its activities are expanding constantly, and these are now structured around three key priorities: maintaining the performance of public services in the area of electricity distribution, finding innovations to offer new services to municipalities searching for greater performance and savings, and investing in the future so that Yonne remains an attractive department.

Efacec

With a comprehensive value chain, Efacec acts in the generation, distribution and transmission of energy; design, energy, construction and maintenance of integrated systems (EPC – Engineering, Procurement and Contracting) for the energy, environment, industry and railways sectors; and development of Electric Mobility solutions and their commercialization. Efacec Group is present in strategic markets such as Europe, the United States of America, Latin America, Asia, Maghreb and South Africa.

Hubject

With more than 600 partners, Hubject provides the biggest international digital B2B market place for services related to charging of electric vehicles. Today, over 200,000 chargers in 24 countries on three continents are connected to the open Hubject’s Intercharge network. The Hubject portfolio addresses a wide range of participants in the EV market, e.g. charging infrastructure operators, eMobility service providers, energy suppliers, fleet operators, car sharing companies, service card providers and automotive manufacturers. Founded in 2012 by BMW Group, Bosch, Daimler, EnBW, Innogy and Siemens, Hubject enables real-time connections between charging infrastructure operators and eMobility service providers worldwide. In 2016 the Volkswagen Group joined the circle of Hubject’s shareholders. Enel X followed in 2019.