Ultra fast charging hub

Client: Ekoen

Year: 2021

Project Background: Electric vehicles fast charging hubs do not take people's or environment's needs into account. They make the charging experience more difficult than it should be and they add a strain on the environment.

Ekoen wanted to develop a new vision of a hub that is innovative and challenges the status quo. The project was developed by a Warsaw-based architect practice K Design, under our coordination.

Challenge: Developing an ultra fast charging hub that will be the leader in terms of its human-orientation and sustainability.

Approach:

• Literature review into EV user needs regarding fast charging hubs.

• Review of existing hubs and potential solutions for the hub.

• Working closely with an architecture practice and a specialist in sustainability in buildings to develop a new vision of a charging hub.  

What we found: All charging hubs are car- rather than human-oriented.  They use unsustainable materials and repeat the design (and mistakes) of the traditional petrol station. They are built in a way that drains rather than recharges human batteries, all the while the char is charging.

Results: A project of a modular, wood-based charging hub that can fulfill all human needs, all the while being light on the envionment. Natural materials and plants make spending time in and around it an agreable place. Attention paid to accustics allows the hub to be a calm, resting space. The outside of the hub - the drains, the permeable surfaces, but also excercise spots and amenities for kids - make it a perfect place to spend the charging time for humans and non-humans alike. The hub does not require cement foundations and can be placed on pillars dug into the ground. It can grow and expand as the traffic grows, but it can also be taken down and moved somewhere else when necessary.