European model for İzmir’s electrical transportation

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality has started to implement the "PowerManagement" project developed by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which will strengthen the city's electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The pilot application, which is carried out simultaneously with European cities, will contribute to the correct and efficient use of the city's energy and increase the number of stations.

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, which implements environmentally friendly projects one by one for sustainable transport, has collaborated with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Department of Transport has joined the "PowerManagement" project consortium, supported by the EIT Urban Mobility network, which enables charging stations to be deployed by using city electricity in the most efficient way. Pilot testing of the digital platform designed to enable electric vehicle owners to charge their vehicles efficiently has been completed. Within the scope of the project accepted by EIT, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality received a grant of approximately 100 thousand Euros and started pilot testing simultaneously with cities from Brussels and the Czechia.

6 stations have been installed in Havagaz

The installation of 6 fast charging stations (AC type) in the car park area of the Historical Havagazı Factory was completed in order to use the software developed within the scope of the project in pilot test studies in the city of İzmir. The stations, which were established in the Historical Havagazı Factory, were initially opened for the use of the municipality's fleet of electric service vehicles. When the project, which is in the test phase, is developed and widespread, it is aimed to meet the demand for charging stations in the healthiest way.

Electricity grid will be used more efficiently

Demet Burçin Gezgin, Transportation Planning Branch Manager of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, stated that they are involved in the PowerManagement project in line with the environmentalist transportation policies they have implemented in İzmir and said, "Electric mobility has become one of the most important focal points of mobility in cities with the effect of developing technology and strategies to move away from fossil fuels. We also need to adapt our infrastructure to this. In order to provide this infrastructure, we thought that electric charging stations should be more widely located in the city in the coming years. In order to improve this process, we have been involved in the PowerManagement project within the scope of EIT Urban Mobility's 2022 - 2024 calls. We received a grant of about 100 thousand euros. We have initiated a project with the questions of how we can use the existing electricity network more efficiently and how we can provide infrastructure. In this context, we work with countries such as Czechia, Hungary, Spain and Belgium. The system we have started at Havagaz is also a system that has been tested in Prague and Brussels. This study is the beginning of our system of electric charging stations throughout the city. In this process, we have realized what we need and how we have to make arrangements. We are working for the formation of an infrastructure that will serve our city by creating an action plan."

City infrastructure is being strengthened for electric vehicles

Uğur Yankaya, City Planner at the Department of Transport, said: "The aim of the project is to plan, commission, monitor and evaluate a specially designed power management system to control electric vehicle charging stations in public and residential areas.  PowerManagement is a smart and efficient electric vehicle charging platform. Within the scope of the project, an intelligent power management software was developed. In other words, it is aimed to prevent overloading the grid in places with 4 or more electric vehicle parks at the same time and to solve the charging management with an intelligent power management software. This project efficiently manages the available power. It aims to do this through a platform to provide a sustainable solution for operators of parking spaces with electric vehicle chargers. In other words, the load on the transformer is being tried to be managed. The PowerManagement project is a solution for managing power constraints, taking into account the actual power needs of the vehicle.”