CASE STUDY | E-Mobility | Hufvudstaden / NK Garage, SE

Future-proofing car parks to meet the anticipated demand for EV charging points 

Hufvudstaden is a large commercial property owner, with office and retail spaces in some of  Stockholm and Gothenburg’s most prestigious locations. Founded in 1915 by Ivar Kreuger, this leading real estate company today has a total of 30 rental properties in its portfolio.

In Stockholm they also have two large commercial car parks, NK Parking and Continentalgaraget. Hufvudstaden was an early adopter of EV charging points in both of these two locations, future-proofing both car parks to meet the anticipated demand for EV charging points. 

Karl-Johan Wall, sustainability manager at Hufvudstaden said “We began to look at installing EV charging points back in 2016, because we saw the way that the EV market was moving, and the significant increase in the number of EVs on the road.

We wanted to invest in our infrastructure to maintain our market-leading position and meet the changing needs of our customer base. Even back in 2016 we saw quite a surge of Tesla vehicles being parked up, especially in our NK Parking facility. This was maybe not quite reflective of the whole of Sweden, but certainly in this heavily commercial area of Stockholm, we saw the initial and potential demand for EV charging points.”

This was the right decision according to Karl-Johan Wall. The number of installed EV charging points has increased 100% year on year since then.

Karl-Johan Wall continued “We have increased the number of EV charging points every year. Mainly due to the increase in the number of electric cars, but also we always try to be one step ahead, to meet future demand. Initially we bought EV chargers from an other brand, but in 2018, following a review of our existing solution, we chose to collaborate with CTEK. CTEK was selected because we felt they could deliver a solid and reliable charging solution, with high technological performance standards.” 

“CTEK was selected because we felt they could deliver a solid and reliable charging solution, with high technological performance standards.”
- Karl-Johan Wall, Hufvudstaden, NK parking, Stockholm

Hufvudstaden also chose to partner with CTEK due to the high level of technical expertise at the company. Karl-Johan Wall said “We are not experts on EV chargers, and we never will be. CTEK had the knowledge and experience. They completely understood what we wanted, and perhaps more importantly, what we needed. 

We receive many detailed questions from customers using our carparks, who are not only interested in the technology that we use, but also have many questions about power and EV charging in general. CTEK customer support helps us to respond to these questions, which helps us to maintain our high standards of customer service.”

Before COVID-19 struck, between 80% and 95% of our EV charging points in the NK carpark were always in operation during working hours, so we can see that our investment has paid off. We have tried to think long-term and therefore drawn a lot of power as well as load balancing. We are now building 56 more EV charging points that will be ready by summer. When these are ready, we will then have 219 EV charge parkings. Many of our competitors have fewer charging points and I think we have gained a lot of EV customers in Stockholm city, as a result of this and our forward-thinking approach. If COVID-19 had not happened, I think that we would see capacity increase to 100% – there is a growing need, we continue to see that.”

According to Karl-Johan Wall, installing the technology from CTEK in all of their office, retail and parking sites has been a simple and straightforward process.

Contact person, Hufvudstaden, NK parking, Stockholm:
Karl-Johan Wall
Karl-Johan.Wall@hufvudstaden.se 
08- 762 90 36

“The EV chargers themselves are very easy to install. It is the electrical wiring that takes the time, there is a lot to consider and lots of power required! With all of our sites we have tried to think long term, so for us the CTEK load balancing solution was an important part of the specification in all of our locations. When many EVs are charging at the same time, there is a big risk of overload and this was something that we wanted to protect against. We have also invested in high power (three-phase 16A, 11kW) chargers, so that our customers can charge quickly, so load balancing is an even bigger consideration.”
- Karl-Johan Wall, Hufvudstaden, NK parking