Meet the hidden man who has stepped forward and acquired one of Sweden's most powerful DC chargers. Aros Auto is one of Sweden's oldest and most modern Kia facilities. When the local grid owner could not deliver the required capacity in the electricity grid, they took matters into their own hands to ensure the desired charging power.

The family business Aros Auto started its operations in the Mälaren city of Västerås over 40 years ago. They are also established in Enköping and sell the car brands Kia and Maxus. Their facilities include sales of cars and vans, service, sheet metal, tire and glass workshops, painting, reconditioning - and now also an impressive charging site consisting of 42 charging points and its own energy storage.

- Our investment in charging actually started with a need in our own workshop area. If you're going to service electric vehicles, you have to be able to troubleshoot them, and it goes without saying that we can't go anywhere else to recharge them, says Bengt Egnesund, CEO of Aros Auto in Västerås.

- We installed a number of charging points early on but soon realized that the power should be increased on them. Our demo cars needed to be recharged often and quickly. That's when the real need was born and we felt we might as well go all in and run a public charging site to be able to earn revenue on it as well. We decided to go all-in and get the fastest charger available, Bengt continues.

After reassuring conversations with the local grid company in Västerås, they received guarantees that the grid could cope with their new investment. The products were ordered but suddenly one day the grid owner contacted them again and announced that they could not deliver the power they had previously guaranteed.

- Now we were left with ordered charging products that we could not use under the prevailing conditions. We were therefore forced to solve the situation on our own and, together with Svensk Fordonsladdning, we quickly planned for the acquisition of our own energy storage.

Aros Auto already has a large photovoltaic system on the roof of its plant, so they were no novices in the field of energy and electricity. In combination with the new energy storage, in addition to power supply to the powerful chargers, they have also ensured access to property electricity in the event of any disruptions.

 “Imagine how smart it would be if there was a filter in the ChargeFinder app that could clarify which charging sites are spacious and easily accessible for large vehicles or trailers.”

- If we have a power outage on the grid, we can switch to island operation and still supply the property with electricity from our own battery power in the energy storage. If we choose to turn off the vehicle charging, we can keep the business running for up to an hour with the help of the battery even if the sun is not out and replenishes the solar panels, says Bengt.

- This means that we can, for example, finish car painting jobs in peace and quiet without having to deal with hardened paints that have not been painted. On the other hand, if the sun is shining, we can use the solar panels to keep the business running for a whole day.

The energy storage system is currently active in providing ancillary services to Svenska Kraftnät to balance the electricity grid. These support services generate revenue for the owner of the energy storage system.

- Apart from the fact that the energy storage solved our initial operational problem, another bonus is that we can do without power from the grid if something happens. There will be several important pieces of functionality that we can weigh in and easily monetize.

Right now, Aros Auto does 90% of the charging itself, but Bengt points out that the charging site is newly opened and not directly connected to any major road. He is aware that customers need to know about their existence to find their way there and charge their vehicles. Aros Auto has secured groundwork and areas that are also suitable for heavy vehicles such as buses and trucks, but also cars with caravans can easily charge with them. He has a good idea linked to this.

- How clever it would be if there was a filter in the ChargeFinder app that could show which charging sites are spacious and easily accessible for large vehicles or caravans. I think many people with caravans, for example, will be happy when they find our chargers instead of having to squeeze into cramped charging sites and unhook the caravan, Bengt concludes hopefully.