Its full name is Intelligent Robotized Platform for Efficient Mobility, but its creators call it by its abbreviation ( Primo ) because it sounds closer and in short, it is like the ‘cousin of Zumosol’, since it wants to help give a push for electric mobility by revolutionizing and expanding fast charging systems all over the world, explains Rodrigo García, director of business development at Starnaliza, a Galician group of companies that believes they have found the solution to the problem of the lack of chargers of high power in Spain, its high price and its obsolescence.

Primo: the viable alternative to the high power station

according to those responsible for the invention Primo is a system that reduces investment and simplifies the infrastructure necessary for the installation and operation of a fast (or ultra-fast) charging station for electric vehicles. The key is that a single high-power charger is capable of serving 10 cars (or 200, if necessary) moving along a rail and supported by artificial intelligence software that allows it to distribute the load according to the needs of every customer. With Primo, it is no longer necessary to have a high-power pole for each vehicle or every two vehicles, a model that is unfeasible because it is inefficient and expensive. Hence the shortage of fast-charging electric stations in Spain (from 50-100 kW).

Primo: fast charging in 15 minutes addition

Primo solves many of the problems of customers, who can opt for a fast charge of 15 minutes and continue their trip or, conversely, leave their car parked and plugged in while they rest, eat or do the shopping and allow the load manager to do your job and decide the best time to load based on the chosen rate. The greater the urgency the greater the cost. And on the contrary also: the less urgency, the lower the cost.  All loads are done in 15 minutes, but the system will give priority to customers who want or need to have the vehicle before it, explains Rodrigo.

Primo: with space always available

The system offers customers convenience since they can request the loading of the vehicle while they run their errands and not have to worry about anything other than going to pick it up at the agreed time. They will not have to remove the car once the load is finished to make room for the next vehicle like at a gas station, since the robotic arm is the one that moves from one car to another to carry out the load. There will always be space available for high power, which also eliminates the anxiety caused by not knowing if you are going to find a free place to charge the car, they maintain.

Primo: fast charging for individuals or fleets

The first study is designed for a platform of 10 cars, but you can serve 200 because the system is modular and scalable, you can add all the robots you want. You only spend the space necessary to store the cars for as long as the customer as if they were parking spaces, explains the CEO of Grupo Starnaliza, Alberto González. This includes police cars, ambulances, or electric buses, since

Primo is perfect for fleets of public or private companies

They point out. Through a mobile application or APP, Primo lets you know in advance the cost of the load and the availability of the vehicle in the shortest possible time. From there, the user can freely choose whether to increase that time in exchange for the reduction of the price to pay.

Primo: cheaper and more profitable robotic platform optimizes

The use of high-power charging points to the maximum thanks to the software management algorithm, which reduces the rate and power to be hired by the station and makes it unnecessary for a transformation center to connect the electric station to the medium-voltage network. In this way, Primo would allow savings of up to 62% in fixed costs of the electricity supply, according to calculations by Starnaliza, which puts the average annual operating cost of the Primo system at 5,336 euros (without taxes) with a mobile charging point of 184Kw.

But the thing is that in addition to reducing operating costs, Primo increases safety in handling the charging point, since the user does not have any type of contact with the high-power charger. You just have to plug your car into the charging point where the robotic arm that supplies the current will be connected. “We do not offer chargers for electric cars, but a unique and innovative charger management system in the market, with software whose mission is to give the necessary guidelines to optimize charging times, using a single charger (up to 184 KW) with the cost savings that this implies.

Primo: a Spanish patent

For a little more than the cost of a high-power pole ( about 50,000 euros ), a Primo system can be installed for 10 or more cars reveal those responsible for Starnaliza, who are looking for a partner that has the financial capacity to implement the technology. “We are a humble engineering company, we need a ‘partner’ in this adventure that has the capacity to make our dream come true.

Any offer that meets our objectives will be studied with real pleasure by Starnaliza, although we consider that selling the patent to a larger company is the simpler, faster, and more adequate solution they reveal. Of the 20,000 charging points for electric vehicles in Spain, 50% will become obsolete in three years, and with the technology currently used, their maintenance and operating costs are very high causing losses to the companies that operate them,  warns Starnaliza. However, the market is heading in a straight line for the electric car so a charging system must be created that does work and whose exploitation is profitable,  they add. “Primo is the solution to all these problems, they argue.