An Electric Vehicle Charging Station will be Installed on UrFU Campus

12:15, October 18, 2021

Cooperation with Schneider Electric will make this possible

Ural Federal University is expanding cooperation with the French multinational company Schneider Electric. At the international construction 100+ TechnoBuild Forum, an agreement on the transfer of the Evlink PKG STD electric vehicle charging station designed specifically for the urban environment to the university, was signed. The station will be installed on UrFU campus.

The document was signed at the stand of the government of the Sverdlovsk region. On the part of the company, the signatory was Natalia Steinberg, Managing Director of the Schneider Electric Ural region, and Sergey Sarapulov, Director of the Ural Power Engineering Institute, on the part of UrFU.

"We express our deep interest in cooperation between our company and UrFU. The charging station placed at the disposal of the university will give its employees and students the opportunity to use modern eco-friendly transport every day, and will serve as an incentive for further interaction between our organizations. We believe that in the very near future, electric vehicles will begin to play an important role in the transport system of modern cities and will provide residents of megacities with new options for fast and convenient transportation in an urban environment," Natalia Steinberg emphasized.

In turn, Sergey Sarapulov noted that a charging station would provide a large amount of information for research. In addition, it will play an important role in the creation of a training program for specialists in the design and operation of electric charging infrastructure equipment. There are very few such specialists today, and the need for them will soon increase dramatically.

"The electric vehicle fleet is growing all over the world; in Europe every fourth car is electric. The city of Zermatt in Switzerland has completely switched to electric transport and blocked the entrance for cars with an internal combustion engine. In Russia, we are also seeing its growth, - said Sergey Sarapulov. - The appearance of a charging station for electric vehicles will make it possible to actualize a joint project with IDGC of the Urals (MRSK-Ural) to create a charging infrastructure for electric transport and the introduction of electric sharing in the Sverdlovsk region."

For Schneider Electric, cooperation with universities is an important strategic task. The company works with many leading Russian technical universities, 12 of which have opened joint design laboratories. Schneider Electric plans to actively develop this area of activity.

In July this year, the CEO of Schneider Electric in Russia and the CIS, Johan Vanderplaetse, met with the leadership of UrFU, at which they decided to develop a joint competence center for building automation and energy efficiency. It is assumed that the main activities of the center will be building automation and energy-efficient technologies, intelligent energy supply, BIM design, management systems for complex infrastructure facilities and green technologies.