HEBERGER – How a planning and construction company relies on e-mobility

HEBERGER, an international planning and construction company, has been building a fast EV charging network for several major customers for years and relies on Virta’s charging solution for on-site company fleet, employee and guest charging. Read on for the whole story.

Founded in 1948, HEBERGER is a family-owned German planning and construction company based in Schifferstadt, Germany, with branches and subsidiaries around Germany, Europe, North America and the Middle East.

As of 2022, HEBERGER had 1,300 employees worldwide and reported a turnover of 340 million €.

HEBERGER AND E-MOBILITY

As a leading international company in building construction and civil engineering, HEBERGER came into contact with e-mobility very early. In 2016, they installed the first charging stations for electric company vehicles and hybrids on the company premises at the HQ in Schifferstadt.

At the same time, HEBERGER installed “Smart City Lights” in cooperation with an energy supplier. This included, for example, lighting poles with Wi-Fi, charging sockets or wind sensors.

In 2017, HEBERGER installed their first fast charging stations at selected locations in over 410 licensed service areas along motorways across Germany.

In the following years, HEBERGER continued implementing EV charging infrastructure with customers such as IONITY, EnBW and Pfalzwerke. The focus has been constructing charging hubs with fast and ultra fast charging stations (HPC - High Power Charging) for electric cars, buses and trucks.

“As experts in pipeline construction, e-mobility was a natural next step for us, and we started installing EV charging stations for energy suppliers in 2016,” says Philipp Mertel, Senior Site and e-mobility Manager at HEBERGER.

Photo 1: Philipp Mertel, Senior Site & E-mobility Manager at HEBERGER:

In 2018, Europe’s first high-power charging (HPC) hub was connected to the grid in Brohltal, Germany, fully managed by HEBERGER. And more prestigious projects followed.

Thanks to its many years of experience, HEBERGER handles the whole process of constructing and installing the fast EV charging infrastructure: From planning, licensing, grid connections and pipeline construction to delivery, installation and testing of the charging stations.

THE CHALLENGE

HEBERGER installed the first charging stations on its company premises in Schifferstadt in 2016 and aimed to implement EV charging for the company vehicle fleet and employees’ and guests’ electric vehicles.

The next step was to look for a suitable back-end system to manage the charging operations. At the same time, HEBERGER needed suitable hardware to expand the AC charging network at the company’s HQ site.

THE SOLUTION

In 2019, HEBERGER contacted Virta for the first time to discover what the Virta charging solution has to offer.

“We immediately liked Virta’s concept. We took a closer look at the different features of the back-end system, how it works and whether it suits us. In the end, we were convinced by the Virta solution,” says Philipp Mertel.

Since then, HEBERGER has been using Virta’s charging solution and handles both the company fleet charging and charging for employees and guests via Virta’s back-end, the Virta Platform.

At the same time, the charging infrastructure at the company’s Schifferstadt site is being expanded with Virta’s AC charging stations.

Photo 2: Alfen charging stations acquired through Virta at the HEBERGER headquarters.

Philipp Mertel comments on the long collaboration with Virta:

“There has always been good and constructive cooperation with Virta; we work with very nice, friendly, helpful and goal-orientated people.”

Over the many years of HEBERGER’s collaboration with Virta, a few problems have arisen, but Philipp Mertel stays positive:

“Everything has always worked well. If there were any problems, they were always resolved quickly.”

The Schifferstadt site mainly serves to charge company and employee vehicles. Plug-in hybrids currently make up most of the company fleet but are being continuously swapped for fully electric cars.

The EV charging stations ensure that vehicles are fully charged and ready whenever needed.

HEBERGER’s employees have received the EV charging possibility well as an eight-hour workday is roughly equivalent to the time needed to charge an EV battery fully.

Photo 3: Existing charging stations at the site were migrated to the Virta back-end system.

HEBERGER is heavily concerned about sustainability, and as a company, they want to support employees in switching to more climate-friendly means of transport.

“Sustainability is an issue that the company is increasingly concerned with and has to deal with,” says Philipp Mertel.

Thomas Jürgeleit, a Customer Success Manager at Virta, also emphasises HEBERGER's sustainability efforts: 

"HEBERGER is taking on a pioneering role in the entire construction industry when it comes to switching to e-mobility. In Virta, HEBERGER has a strong partner to realise sustainability goals and make it easier for employees to switch to more environmentally friendly mobility. In addition, the Virta Platform is versatile and easily scalable so that all of HEBERGER's plans can be realised in the future. This can also be seen in our planned projects, such as the integration of solar energy into the charging infrastructure, which truly underlines HEBERGER's commitment to sustainability."

THE FUTURE

HEBERGER is experiencing an increasing demand for EV charging infrastructure first-hand and continues to focus on e-mobility.

In the upcoming year, 20 additional car parking spots at the HQ will be equipped with AC charging stations from Virta. Moreover, these chargers will be installed together with a photovoltaic (PV) system.