A quick search of electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the UAE on Google Maps or Plug Share will reveal their widespread distribution across the country. EV chargers are now a familiar sight at government offices, commercial and residential buildings, airports, petrol stations, shopping malls, and hospitals.
EV chargers, particularly in Dubai, have proliferated in the last few years since the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) launched its ‘EV Green Charger’ initiative in 2015 to encourage the adoption of EVs. Since then, DEWA has installed around 300 charging stations in Dubai.
As more public charging stations are installed in the UAE, owners of battery electric vehicles will not have to worry about the driving range required for inter-emirate travel. This growing network along with government regulations and incentives are helping create the ecosystem required for EV adoption.
The ‘Dubai Green Building’ regulations for new buildings specifies that 5% of parking spaces should be dedicated to green or low emission vehicles. A directive issued by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy requires government organisations in Dubai to increase the proportion of hybrid and electric vehicles procured annually to at least 10% of their overall number of purchased and leased vehicles until the end of 2024. This percentage will increase to 20% from 2025–2029 and 30% from 2030 onwards.
With regard to incentives, DEWA is providing free charging until 31 December 2021 for non-commercial EV customers registered in the EV Green Charger initiative, exclusively at public charging stations. The Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) launched a free charging incentive on their public EV charging network within the northern Emirates until the end of 2020.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has exempted electric vehicles registered in Dubai from public parking fees for two years starting from July 2020. Electric vehicles in Abu Dhabi were exempted from road tolls until the end of 2020.
The convenience of EV charging, too, is improving. DEWA’s website and smart app provides the locations of all DEWA charging stations and enables EV Green Charger customers to charge vehicles at DEWA charging stations either by scanning a QR code or using Green Charger cards issued by DEWA.
According to data published by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, the number of EVs registered in Dubai increased from 71 in 2015 to 2,312 in 2020. With a faster rate of EV adoption projected for the next five years, public chargers will not be sufficient to fulfill the demand for charging as consumers will want the added flexibility of charging their vehicles at home, at work, or at any facility with spare capacity. This has gained the interest of property developers and managers seeking new ways to attract and retain customers. Although private companies are not allowed to monetize EV charging, offering it as a value-added service is an opportunity too good to ignore.
UAE-based Powertech Services (Powertech) has seen inquiries for EV chargers increase significantly from building owners during the last four years. A leading supplier of low voltage (LV) switchgear systems for over 30 years, Powertech has emerged as a major player in electromobility, driven by its extended partnership with Switzerland-based global technology company ABB.
Powertech entered the electric vehicle charging market in 2017 with the installation of a 50kW DC charger – the ABB Terra 53 – at Premier Motors’ showroom in Al Ain. Since then, the company has installed close to 100 EV charging stations in the UAE for both public and private sectors clients.
Arthi Srinivasan, director-operations and marketing, Powertech Services, says: “The timing of our market entry in electric mobility coincided with the early stage of the market itself, when several EV car manufacturers were planning to debut their electric models in the region. By 2019, ABB, which is our partner for LV switchgears, streamlined its product range for AC and DC charging solutions, which provided us with more resources to scale up our operations and introduce the new products. Extending our partnership with ABB from LV switchgears to EV chargers was a natural progression for our business because of the common technical competencies required in both the fields.”
ABB chargers installed by Powertech in the UAE can be found in prominent locations such as the guest parking lots and VIP terminals of the Presidential Flight airport in Abu Dhabi; parking lots of the government facility in Al Dhafra Abu Dhabi and the Ajman Free Zone headquarters; and the tenant parking space of the Limestone House in Dubai International Financial Centre. Recently, Powertech installed DC and AC charging stations at Al Tayer Motors’ showrooms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for the new Jaguar I-Pace all-electric SUVs. This year, the company has been busy with EV charger installations at three Amazon data centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and retrofitting of parking facilities at residential and mixed-use buildings in Abu Dhabi.
Private sector customers of EV chargers include hotels, malls, office and residential buildings that want to install EV chargers in their parking lots to provide value-added services to tenants and visitors. Increase in demand from such customers has made Powertech the go-to supplier for retrofit projects.
Arthi Srinivasan, director-operations and marketing, Powertech Services.
“We are revisiting old buildings that need EV charging stations but many not have spare capacity available. This is true for most buildings ranging from 15 to 25 years. So, they need to either apply for additional electrical load and increase their capacity or optimise their energy consumption before we can install EV chargers. To speed up this process, we offer turnkey solutions that include the civil works, modification and upgrading of switchgear and building electrical systems, and cable pulling up to the locations of the chargers. In some cases, we modify the systems that we installed several years ago,” says Arthi.
For building owners who don’t want to apply for additional load or upgrade their infrastructure immediately, Powertech optimises the building’s spare capacity through load balancing.
“The cost of additional load is borne by the building owner, and therefore, the capacity increase must be considered a long-term investment. ABB offers DC chargers that can be scaled up with increase in capacity. In such cases, we select cables and panels compatible with higher power ratings. When the building owner is ready to upgrade, all we need to do is install additional power modules to upgrade the power, for example, from 20kW to 50kW. This helps building owners to plan their capital expenditures with increase in demand,” says Arthi.
The time required for installation of EV chargers in existing parking facilities depends on the availability of spare capacity in buildings. If spare power is available, Powertech requires about 10 working days for AC charger installations and up to 12 weeks for DC charger installations.
“We usually maintain stock of AC chargers due to which we can deliver and install them in a few days. The lead time for DC chargers is 10–12 weeks because they are delivered from ABB’s factories in Europe. During the lead time, we do site preparation work, power splitting and cable pulling so that when the DC chargers are delivered, they can be installed easily like plug-and-play devices,” says Arthi.
According to Arthi, electrification of parking facilities in the UAE will happen primarily through retrofitting: 60–70% of the EV installation jobs will be retrofit projects. The remaining share of about 30% will comprise new build projects.
Early adopters find success
Limestone House, DIFC
The ABB Terra 54 charger at Limestone House allows charging of two vehicles simultaneously, through 50kW DC and 22kW AC charge points.
One of the early adopters of EV charging in a residential complex in Dubai was the Limestone House situated in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and managed by Waseela Management and Supervision Service for Owners Associations (Waseela).
The potential of EV chargers sparked the interest of James Spencer, general manager of Waseela, while he worked on a thesis about EV chargers in the US. Following a market study, Waseela contracted Powertech to install an ABB DC fast charger at the Limestone House’s parking lot in 2019.
“We like to keep abreast of the latest technology and market trends rather than missing out on opportunities, and we’ve always been early adopters of the latest technology to improve energy efficiency in our buildings. Our research indicated that our customers, a lot of whom work in DIFC, are passionate about technology and the environment and are very likely to switch to electric vehicles. It was obvious to our investors that we need a long-term commitment to electric vehicles. So, we opted for a DC fast charger for our first installation,” says James.
The ABB Terra 54 charger at Limestone House allows charging of two vehicles simultaneously, through 50kW DC and 22kW AC charge points.
The User interface of the ABB Terra 54 charger.
“We were able to get spare capacity for this charger without the need to apply for additional load. We managed this by changing the lighting in the building to LED. With more efficient MEP and HVAC systems, we were able to reduce the energy consumption by 30%,” says James.
The Limestone House is the first property managed by Waseela to have an EV charger, and one of the only buildings with a high-speed charger in DIFC. This has helped the building’s leasing department generate interest from prospective tenants.
“We anticipate at least 30% of the cars in our building to be electric models within the next two years. Considering our target customer profile, it is important for us to offer EV charging as a value-added service and actively market the availability of EV chargers to potential tenants,” says James.
Bridgestone’s First Stop tyre service centre, JAFZA
Recently, Bridgestone Middle East and Africa installed an ABB AC charger at its flagship First Stop tyre service centre in Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) to offer EV charging as a complimentary service.
The ABB Terra AC charger installed by Powertech is compatible with all electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The charger is equipped with a Type 2 connector and is compatible with 4G, Wifi, Bluetooth and Ethernet. The firmware can be integrated with a software interface to enable Bridgestone to manage the charger and generate reports on charging sessions, user behaviour, etc. The charger also has an authentication functionality that enables access authorization or restriction.
The ABB Terra AC charger installed at the First Stop tyre service centre.
Stefano Sanchini, regional managing director, Bridgestone Middle East & Africa, explains the reason for offering the free service and choice of location for the charger: “Our flagship store in Jebel Ali serves as a reference point for all our partners across the MEA region to benchmark their stores in terms of customer journey and experience. We wanted to lead by example and inspire our partners. As a one-stop destination for tyres, batteries, lubes and auto care services, the store attracts customers regularly for tyre rotation, nitrogen top up and ozone sanitisation. An additional service will only add value to a growing customer segment. An EV customer waiting for a tyre or autocare service at the store can use the waiting time to also top up the vehicle’s battery for free. Furthermore, there’s demand for EV chargers in the JAFZA area. Currently, we understand that there are only three EV charging stations inside the Jebel Ali Free Zone; having more chargers will benefit the EV vehicles entering the free zone every day. Our free service is becoming popular among EV taxi and limousine drivers.”
Stefano Sanchini, regional managing director, Bridgestone Middle East & Africa.
As a global tyre manufacturer that will need to engineer and manufacture tyres for all types of EVs in the future, a charging service is also a strategic decision for Bridgestone. The booming EV market and ecosystems reflect the transformation of the global automotive industry on the cusp of disruption.
“Electromobility is at the top every vehicle manufacturer’s agenda. Looking at the trends in EV development and their impact on the tyre industry, we asked ourselves what our specific contribution would be in the EV era. We see ourselves evolving from a tyre manufacturer into a major player in the global mobility ecosystem. We cannot remain the leading tyre brand in the MEA region if we do not improve our offering for EV users. Furthermore, the tyre is not only a physical element that maintains the control and safety of the vehicle on the ground, but also a critical source of data collection that can help understand road conditions and driver behavior. Tyre manufacturers that understand how to work with such data will have a competitive advantage in the future,” says Stefano.
AC vs DC: the future of EV charging
The public charging network in the UAE mainly comprises 22–43kW Type 2 AC charge points, 50–150kW CCS Combo Type 2 DC and CHAdeMO DC charge points. Home chargers typically comprise 3.6–22kW Type 2 AC charge points. This meets the current requirement for overnight and on-the-go charging for all electric vehicle models available in the UAE.
DEWA recently installed a 150kW EV charger at the ENOC station, located at Expo 2020 Dubai. ION, the UAE-based joint venture between Bee’ah and Crescent Enterprises, has installed a 350kW high-power charging station, on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. These type of ultrafast chargers can fully charge vehicles in less than 15 minutes on average and reduce user waiting time drastically. This is why on-the-go charging infrastructure in the future will be dominated by DC fast chargers.
ABB entered the e-mobility market in 2010, and since then has sold more than 400,000 electric vehicle chargers across more than 85 markets; over 20,000 DC fast chargers and 380,000 AC chargers, including those sold through Chargedot. Currently, ABB offers both AC and DC charging solutions for all electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The Terra range of EV chargers includes the following models:
- Terra AC Wallbox: Single phase up to 7.4kW and three phase up to 22kW AC
- Terra DC Wallbox: Continuous power up to 22.5kW and peak power up to 24kW DC
The Terra family of DC fast chargers includes the Terra 24 to the Terra 184 (20 to 180 kW), designed for quick, convenient charging of all electric vehicle models, including those equipped with high voltage battery systems like electric buses and trucks.
- Terra 24: One EV up to 20kW DC fast charging and one EV up to 22kW AC charging
- Terra 54 (successor of the Terra 53): One EV up to 50kW DC fast charging and One EV up to 22kW/43kW AC charging
- Terra 94: One EV up to 90kW DC fast charging
- Terra 124: One EV up to 120kW DC fast charging or two EVs each up to 60kW DC fast charging
- Terra 184: One EV up to 180kW DC fast charging two EVs each up to 90kW DC fast charging
ABB also offers high-power, modular chargers that provide 175–350kW DC fast charging. With ABB Dynamic DC power sharing technology, power cabinets can be connected to charge one vehicle at up to 350kW and 500A or two vehicles simultaneously at up to 175kW and 375A. The charging speed depends on the battery of the vehicle and the power capacity of the charging station.
The ABB Terra 54 charger with Type 2 AC, CCS Combo Type 2 DC and CHAdeMO DC charge points.
A Tesla vehicle charged with the ABB Terra AC.
ABB’s DC fast charging technology was first introduced in the Middle East in 2017 in Jordan with the installation of Terra 53 DC multistranded chargers.
Balqees Al-Daghar, E-mobility solutions manager, ABB, says: “We took a strategic approach while entering the Middle East market, considering DC Chargers as a novel technology at the time, and as technology leaders, it is important to ensure the highest standards of quality and performance when we showcase the full potential of our technology. The success of our pilot projects attracted more interest from local integrators and customers, which increased awareness and translated into demand from end users and potential partnerships. With more than 130 years in the electrification industry and more than a decade of expertise in e-mobility infrastructure solutions, ABB is the perfect partner for enabling e-mobility progress in the UAE.”
Arthi Srinivasan and Balqees Al-Daghar, e-mobility solutions manager, ABB.
“We executed a lot of projects in 2020, and the number of AC chargers increased, which is a clear indicator about the necessity of these systems, particularly in Abu Dhabi where demand has been rising steadily,” says Arthi.
ABB launched its Terra AC Wallbox globally in 2020 as a mass-market product to target the home-charging market, which led to the company’s first residential charger project in Saudi Arabia, having previously supplied three 50kW DC fast chargers. Last year, ABB supplied two kinds of chargers for the Safa 28 residential project in Riyadh: they included 13 units of the AC Terra single phase 7.4kW chargers installed in the basement of apartments and 4 units of the AC Terra three phase 22kW chargers with metering function and radio frequency identification (RFID) cards, installed in villas.
The ease of installation and affordability of the Terra AC Wallbox has helped lower the barrier to entry for EV chargers in general, according to Balqees.
“We see AC charging as the stepping-stone to the inevitable future of DC charging. When on the road, electric vehicle drivers are most concerned about top-up charging and extending their range within their stopovers, which are in the range of 5–15 minutes. To cater to this requirement, DC chargers must be easily accessible and reliable enough to operate 24/7. Customers who have used AC chargers are usually the ones who understand and appreciate the significant speed and time savings of DC fast charging, and therefore, willingly switching to and invest in DC fast and high power charging,” says Balqees.
As the adoption of EV charging becomes widespread with government incentives for electric vehicles and the expansion of public charging infrastructure, the next step in this advancement will, according to Balqees, be monetization of e-mobility charging infrastructure through advanced IoT and ICT technologies that are gradually emerging amongst utilities and which can enable a new energy trading model.
“When EV charging is offered as a service, the conversation will naturally move towards return on investment and creating sustainable pricing and revenue models. At ABB, we are committed to helping build the ecosystem for electromobility, including large EV fleets comprising medium- and heavy-duty vehicles,” says Balqees.
In this regard, ABB is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to jointly develop a cloud-based digital solution for the real-time fleet management of EVs. The new platform, which is planned for roll out in the second half of 2021, will offer an efficient way to manage EV fleets by integrating EV hardware and software into one ecosystem.
“EV chargers can deliver high power outputs, but vehicles may not be able to handle them. Supporting high charging capacities in the future will depend on the vehicle manufacturers and charging infrastructure developers. Electric supercars can be charged in 5–10 min with a supply of 175–350kW, but mass-market electric cars have smaller batteries optimized for 50–70kW DC charging. Therefore, 50kW DC fast chargers with optional AC charge points will be the most common charging configuration in the future,” says Arthi.
