Charge your electric car by smartphone – thanks to LEGIC Connect
Electric cars can now be charged by smartphones. This is possible due to the new solution LEGIC Connect.
The latter simplifies access to charging stations and therewith to electric mobility. First pilot customer in Switzerland is the Elektrizitätswerke des Kantons Zürich (EKZ), the power provider for the canton of Zurich.
Electric mobility becomes a whole lot simpler. LEGIC’s new technology opens up new possibilities. Electric motorists, who want to profit from the so called “Park & Charge” project, pay a yearly lump sum which includes their individual electricity consumption. As soon as they hold their smartphone to the reader of an electric charging pump, the two devices communicate with one another using Near Field Communication and identify the motorists in a contactless manner. Using Kaba mobile access and LEGIC Connect, the authorisations are then verified so that the electric car can be charged.
Smartphone becomes key
With the solution of LEGIC Connect and Kaba mobile access, electric motorists have various advantages. They receive their authorization for the Park & Charge subscription period quickly and easily onto their smartphone. They do not have to wait for a key to be delivered or return it after the contract has expired. Identification through the customer’s mobile phone at the charging station is quick and secure.
EKZ as first pilot customer
The EKZ supplies about one million people with electricity, making it one of the largest Swiss power supply companies. They are testing the new possibilities with Park & Charge at one of their electric charging pumps on their premises in Dietlikon in the canton of Zurich. The EKZ has about 20 electric cars in use and more than 1400 employees.
Benefits for the EKZ
Charging via smartphone reduces administration work for EKZ. All the authorisations for charging are allocated at the click of a mouse. If a user extends his subscription, the period of authorisation is simply adjusted. If a subscription ends, the user’s authorisation is automatically deleted. If your mobile is lost, the authorisations can be deleted immediately so there is no unauthorised charging. Urs Wiederkehr, head of projects + innovations at the EKZ, explains with a view to the pilot project: “The system works without any flaws. It is simple, secure and therefore highly promising.”
