HEIDELBERG launches AMPERFIED product brand in the field of electromobility
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (HEIDELBERG) will in future offer its innovative solutions in the growth segment of electromobility under the AMPERFIED product brand. Based on years of expertise in the field of power electronics, the company entered the business of charging electronics for e-vehicles back in 2014. Having started as a supplier for the automotive industry, HEIDELBERG now also markets wallboxes under its own brand and has sold over 130,000 units in the meantime. In order to meet the increasing demand faster and to grow further, HEIDELBERG has continuously increased its production capacity at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site and already has five production lines in operation. Accordingly, there are also plans to further increase the number of employees from the current level of around 100 in this area of work. In addition, the expansion of the international sales of charging solutions will be pushed further.
"The identification and expansion of new business fields is absolutely in focus for HEIDELBERG. With the success of the HEIDELBERG charging solutions, we are clearly demonstrating how we can open up a new business area through technology transfer and achieve a very good market position in a short time," said Dr. Ludwin Monz, CEO of Heidelberg. "With the founding of Amperfied GmbH, we are focusing on the electromobility market and want to continue along the path we have successfully embarked upon."
Start of the new fiscal year as an independent company: Amperfied GmbH
In order to be able to develop the e-mobility business area even faster and more flexibly in the future, it was separated from the printing business and has been operating as an independent company under the name Amperfied GmbH (www.amperfied.com) since the start of the new fiscal year on April 1. The aim of the Walldorf-based HEIDELBERG subsidiary is to become a technology leader for an emission-free and livable future and, to this end, to actively shape mobility and energy supply. The company's future growth is to be driven forward by expanding the workforce in all areas, from development and production to sales.
Product portfolio extensions for private and public charging
Future growth in this market segment is also based primarily on the steady expansion of the product range of state-of-the-art charging solutions. To this end, HEIDELBERG intends to introduce a new generation of smart wallboxes in the fall of this year. A product family of networkable charging systems will then be available under the name AMPERFIED Wallbox Connect. An app will control the new wallboxes and enable diagnoses to be made as to when and how the e-car should be charged. The charging process itself can also be started or stopped directly, and the charging power can be reduced or increased at any time. In addition, time-delayed charging is also possible to save costs. Authorization takes place directly at the charging station via RFID and the connection to a home energy management system (HEMS) is also possible. The maintenance-free charging systems are suitable for use in carports and garages as well as outdoors.
Technology presentation at the Hanover Fair
At the Hannover Messe, HEIDELBERG showed the new charging station AMPERFIED Chargespot connect.public for the first time as a partner at the SAP booth (Hall 4, Booth D04). In the Manufacturing/E-Mobility area, the system was connected to a Ba-ck-end solution from SAP. Heidelberg is working with SAP to ensure easy operation, monitoring, and billing via cloud software. This is an important step towards being able to automatically manage the charging stations and the business processes involved in billing, invoicing, and payment.
The offered charging station is the first barrier-free charging station for public areas. It offers a 2x22 kW type 2 connection (IEC 62196) and is TAB compliant. Upon customer request, the charging station branding can be customized. For the end user, a 10-inch plain text display provides convenient and simple menu navigation for the charging process. In addition, the charging station can be networked and is equipped with billing options that comply with calibration regulations.