Präsi PnR

I will give you a short overview over the content. Please notice the indication of the topics by specific icons. You will find these icons during the presentation in the lower left corner so that you always know your location.

I start with a short brief about my person, my role in the project and Repower.

After that I would like to give you some details about Plug and Roll and Palina.

Afterwards, I will move on to a problem and possible solutions.

I will close this presentation by a question and answer round. So If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask at the end.

My name is Melanie Klose and I assist the CFO as well as the Legal & Risk department of Repower in Landquart.

Repower is an energy supply company which is located in canton Grisons, Zurich and Milan. In 2015, Repower entered into the electro mobility market through the new strategy. This helps Repower to reduce its dependence on the energy price and build strong ties to its customers. The product "Plug’n Roll“ is the result of these efforts.

In my role as an assistant, I coordinate and organize meetings and events, carry out various administrative tasks such as the laying out of contracts and ensure the flow of information and good relations between the different teams in Switzerland and Italy and with our supplier, ABB. ABB is the manufacturer of our Palina charging stations. So the exchange with all of them is in English.

Let us move on to Plug and Roll.

Electromobility is not a hype but a global megatrend and will develop from a niche into a mass market. We think that in 5 years the electromobility will be so self-evident as wifi.

Therefore Repower built with “Plug’n Roll” an intelligent network of charging stations to make traveling with an electric vehicle as easy and convenient as possible. 

With the Plug'n Roll app and homepage, customers have an overview, where they can charge their car and if charging stations are ”available” or “busy”.

Repower is focusing on business clients such as hotels, companies and communities. Of course, private users can also buy our product and sign up for Plug'n Roll.

Right now, the charging stations can not be reserved. Because it is not guaranteed, that the driver would come at all. Through the reservation, the Palina is blocked and can only be unlocked with the respective code. The reservation system is technically feasible but Repower has decided not to offer this function. Maybe this would be changed in the future.

So, how do you become part of this network? It’s very easy! As a driver, you only have to register on Plug’n Roll and subscribe. As an operator you just have to install a charging station.

To visualize: Imagine the following scenario. Our CFO has an appointment in Landquart and she would like to charge her Tesla after her arrival. Before the departure, she looks on the Plug’n Roll app and sees, where the next charging station is. Let me give you a short demo …

When you open the Plug’n Roll app you get the overview as you can see on the left side. All the green, grey and red icons are charging stations from costumers who are members of the Plug’n Roll-Family.

In the middle you see my selection. I entered “Landquart” and it immediately shows me the charging stations in Landquart.

On the right sight you see the information about the provider, address and the power of the charging station. In addition, I can see the status of the charging station.

In summary, I would like to repeat that you only see the charging stations who are registered on Plug'n Roll.

In order to be successful in this market, Repower invested into the design and development of a unique charging station – the Palina.

(Hand out Palina)

Here, you have the small sister ofour Palina (the real one was a bit too heavy to bring today). This one will help you in case your phone needs electricity on the road.

The real Palina has two connections;

She is operated with the mobile phone (plugnroll app) or with an RFID card;

She is built for indoor and outdoor use

And finally, Repower is possible to monitor and control the Palina and provides a 24h service.

Now let us take a look at a problem of our charging station.

Unfortunately there are problems or errors in every product. So let me show you our problem of the charging station.

But first I will give you some background information. The white part of the Palina consists of plexiglass and the dark grey part is made of plastic. Due to shift in temperatures (summer/winter, day/night), the grey plastic distorts and the white front plexiglass-panel detaches from the frame and the Palina is leaking. Having water in the inside leads to several problems such as steaming up of the display and corrosion on critical components. And as we all know combining water and electricity is never a good idea – ((so don’t try this at home!))

Because we care about our customers and because we didn’t want to receive claims, we needed a solution. In the next step, I will explain it in detail.

So, what options did we have to solve this problem? There are two possibilities that I would like to show you in detail.

Option 1: Installing a fan inside of Palina, which produces a constant stream of air that keeps the inside dry.

Option 2: Using different materials that withstand the conditions much better.

We decided for option number 2. Option one would have taken care of the symptoms, but not the problem. So we decided for option number two. Together with the supplier we examined different materials and finally went for Aluminium with is much more robust and optimal for the use in a charging station.

My role in the solution was coordinating the flow of information and meetings which in the end led to a solution. 

In conclusion, we have made good progress with our product Plug'n Roll and we are very proud of our Palina. At the moment, we focus on sales and marketing to win even more customers.

I hope you enjoyed the insights into our product development – and now if there are any questions, I would be pleased to answer them.