Press Releases

APCOA opened its first UK Urban Mobility Hub to the public at St Catherine's Walk Car Park in the Welsh town of Carmarthen. The Hub is now fully equipped with 5 22kW AC fast chargers and 12 V3 Tesla Superchargers, capable of delivering peak charge rates up to 250kW.

In addition to this we provide 460 22kW AC fast EV chargers across seven Network Rail stations: Welwyn Garden City, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Letchworth, Edinburgh and Reading. A planned 12 month roll out will increase the total number of fast EV charging points at Network Rail sites to 750 and APCOA's customer focused capabilities mean that customers visiting these stations can pay for both their parking and EV charging in one transaction.

Through APCOA's state of the art analytics software we continuously monitor on site availability and utilisation which will allow us to expand at these sites as required.

In Q2 2023 APCOA are looking to expand by a further 250 EV charge points, a combination of ultra rapids and fast EV charge-points including key locations such as Banstead, Bromley Civic Centre and Sheffield.

APCOA Regional Managing Director UK&I & Group ESG Director Kim Challis commented. ' As market leaders, we have a responsibility to drive sustainability targets within the industry and installing, managing, and analysing the impact of reliable charging points at these central locations makes a vital contribution to the environment and adds to the range of services that we offer to our customers across many sectors'.

• APCOA to roll out its EV Mobility activities with Blue Corner EV Charging solutions in Belgium
• Turnkey solution includes all services related to installation, operation, maintenance, and customer service

APCOA PARKING (APCOA), Europe's leading parking operator with 1.8 million parking spaces at over 12,000 locations in 13 countries, signed a four-year contract with Blue Corner for the management of EV chargers at APCOA's premium parking sites in Belgium.

Blue Corner will equally provide training and other logistical and maintenance services that will support the long-term availability of its EV charging points at APCOA.

"APCOA is committed to innovative technologies and sustainable practices to offer the highest quality parking management. Through our digital platform, APCOA FLOW we connect parking lots with consumers and their vehicles. Blue Corner is an ideal partner for us. Their focus on advanced EV technology combined with their knowledge of customers' EV parking behaviour, serves as a perfect match for APCOA in Belgium", says Luc Verduyckt, Managing Director at APCOA PARKING Belgium.

"As part of the Blink Charging Group, Blue Corner is at the vanguard in the global shift to EV mobility in Europe as an end-to-end provider and a key enabler," adds Verduyckt. "By connecting parking, mobility and services for urban life, APCOA is positioned to be an integral part of the digital and physical urban ecosystem."

"We are delighted to support professional parking operators like APCOA to build their EV charging network - and make a positive contribution towards a greener future in Europe," Olivier Van Schap, Managing Director Blue Corner said.

APCOA will implement a turnkey solution, including all services related to installation, operation, maintenance, and customer service for its Belgian market.

Picture, f.l.t.r.:
Olivier Van Schap, Managing Director, Blue Corner
Luc Verduyckt, Managing Director, APCOA PARKING Belgium
Anthony Poschet, Segment Manager Public Charging, Blue Corner

• More than 100 fast charging hubs in heart of urban centres across Europe
• Integrated bp pulse and APCOA app to facilitate seamless parking & charging experience for customers
• Berlin and Bremen planned as first Urban Hubs to offer 24/7 access to ultra-fast charging

bp pulse, one of the leading rapid and ultra-fast public EV charging networks in the UK and APCOA Parking Group, the UK's leading provider of tailored parking solutions with an established presence in Europe, have signed a strategic pan-European frame agreement to open more than 100 EV fast charging hubs across Europe.

Under the agreement, bp pulse plans to install ultra-fast charging at APCOA car parks -'Urban Hubs' - in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland and the UK over the next three years to help expand its charging network in city centres and further accelerate urban e-mobility infrastructure throughout Europe.

The project is part of APCOA's plans to transform its car parks into Urban Hubs which will provide physical and digital infrastructure for mobility, logistics, e-charging and technology based services.

The two companies aim to work together to provide a convenient customer journey through digital integration of the bp pulse and 'APCOA Connect' app in the UK and 'APCOA Flow' app in Europe. Registered users will be able to locate, access, book and pay for their charging and parking at the car park from their mobile, and the car park's entry and exit barriers will open automatically as the vehicle approaches.

Two Urban Hubs in Berlin and Bremen in Germany are expected to open in the third quarter of 2023. These will be the first locations to offer ultra-fast charging which can charge a minimum of six cars, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and will be operated by Aral pulse, bp's German brand. To make the most of downtime whilst charging, some of the hubs will also offer a 'driver lounge' including a vending offer of hot and cold drinks, seating areas with phone charging points, free Wi-Fi and restrooms will be available.

With the incoming ban on ICE vehicles across Europe in 2035, alongside measures to equip up to 30% of public parking spaces with charging facilities for electric cars, bp pulse and APCOA's Urban Hubs will offer one solution in well-lit city-centre parking where available land is often scarce.

Stefan von Dobschuetz, General Manager Europe, bp pulse said: "This agreement will help us to build our EV charging network across Europe by offering customers the fastest and most convenient EV hub charging experience. By working with APCOA, we're bringing the future of parking, charging and services for urban life in one place."

Philippe Op de Beeck, CEO, APCOA said: "Working with bp pulse is another step to achieve our plan to deploy 1,000 fast-charging stations through commercial partners in APCOA's car parks. Doing so, we are providing customers added services in our locations and make a relevant contribution to the transformation of individual mobility."

• Bosch to make driverless parking available in 15 further APCOA parking garages across Germany.
• Gradual, large-scale market launch of the Bosch system is planned in several hundred parking garages worldwide.
• Bosch to initially install the infrastructure technology in four parking spaces per parking garage.
• The APCOA FLOW platform enables contactless and cashless parking without a ticket.

Now that automated valet parking has been approved for commercial use in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport, Bosch and APCOA are branching out and installing the technology in 15 further parking garages in Germany. From Hamburg to Munich, work to expand the infrastructure-based, automated, and driverless SAE Level 4 parking system is set to start in 2023. As a first step, Bosch and APCOA are planning to make up to four parking spaces per parking garage ready for automated valet parking. "We will expand the number of such parking spaces based on the expected ramp-up of vehicles featuring automated valet parking. Our experience with charge spots for electric vehicles shows us how important it is for infrastructure growth to keep pace with the technology. Together with our partner APCOA, we are now making sure that this will be the case for automated valet parking," says Dr. Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of the Mobility Solutions business sector. In the years ahead, Bosch's modular system will allow the number of parking spaces featuring the infrastructure technology to be quickly expanded to up to 200 parking bays at each of the 15 locations.

Start of the worldwide market launch of automated valet parking
The master agreement now signed by Bosch and APCOA is the first step toward a worldwide market launch. The goal is to equip several hundred parking garages across the globe with automated valet parking in the years ahead. "Germany is only the beginning - we're expecting to soon be able to gradually roll out automated valet parking in other countries around the world as well, once the corresponding laws have been passed," says Claudia Barthle, who heads up global software and service sales in the Cross-Domain Computing Solutions division at Bosch and is responsible for the partnership with APCOA. Germany is one of the few countries to have already passed the Level 4 legislation that creates a framework for systems such as automated valet parking. Other countries, such as France, are poised to follow.

"With the automated valet parking solution, we can offer our parking customers a whole new level of convenience. This function is especially advantageous at locations where time is an issue, such as airports, concert halls, event locations, and trade fair locations. In other words, our location at Stuttgart airport is only the beginning," says Frank van der Sant, a member of the board of management and chief commercial officer of APCOA PARKING Group. Automated valet parking will soon be available in selected parking garages in cities such as Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Munich. Further parking garages in Europe are set to follow.

Smart interaction of infrastructure and vehicle technology
Automated valet parking is the wave of the future: gone are the days of time-consuming searches for parking spaces, irksome maneuvering, and the risk of dents and scratches. The driver simply parks the vehicle in a handover zone near the entrance of a parking garage, and uses an app to start the highly automated and driverless parking service. The basis for this is Bosch stereo cameras, which not only identify vacant parking spaces but also monitor the driving aisle and its surroundings, and reliably detect obstacles or people in the aisle. If an unexpected obstacle is detected, the vehicle brakes and safely comes to a complete stop. Only once the route is clear does it continue on its way. For this purpose, all the data generated by the cameras is fed into edge computers. Smart algorithms transmit the driving maneuver to be made and thus enable driverless parking - even when moving between stories on narrow ramps. The distinctive feature of this solution is that the smart technology installed in the parking garage keeps the technical requirements in the vehicle to a minimum, so that the automated and driverless valet parking service lends itself to all vehicle classes.

Thanks to APCOA's FLOW platform, this service is not only driverless but also ticketless and cashless. Drivers are already using the eponymous app to help lighten the burden of parking. This ranges from making firm reservations for a parking space, to contactless entry into the parking garage - now, conveniently, via license plate recognition - and to fully automated payment, invoicing, and contactless exit. The system recognizes the customer's vehicle or the license plate, and the barriers open automatically, making a ticket and trip to the ticket machine redundant. APCOA manages approximately 1.8 million individual parking spaces at over 12,000 locations in 13 European countries. By increasing the availability of driverless and highly automated valet parking services, the same amount of space could accommodate up to 20 percent more vehicles in the future. In addition, driverless parking is especially suitable for narrow, remote, and therefore unattractive parking areas.

World's first approved highly automated parking system (SAE Level 4)
Automated valet parking has developed by leaps and bounds. In mid-2017, Bosch and Mercedes-Benz presented the solution to the general public as part of a pilot project in the parking garage of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Only two years later, the partners obtained the world's first special permit to operate automated valet parking using selected vehicles without a safety driver in the actual traffic conditions found in parking garages. The next milestone came at the end of 2020, when Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and APCOA made the highly automated and driverless parking service available at Stuttgart airport, where they worked on the Level 4 system's first commercial use. Automated valet parking in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport recently became the world's first highly automated driverless (SAE Level 4) parking function to be given official approval for commercial use in Germany - a world-first for the commercial use of this driverless parking system. This function is available in Germany, initially in the P6 parking garage at Stuttgart airport, for certain S-Class and EQS variants featuring the INTELLIGENT PARK PILOT.