Fastned Charging Station

Fietsenmakers was asked to redesign the canopy of the electric vehicle fast-charging station that Fastned is busy building at over 200 locations along the Dutch highway network.

The Fastned charging station canopy’s main components are a wooden frame structure and roof made of highly efficient solar panels. During the design process, the architecture of the station had evolved away from the initial slim, lightweight and cost effective design. A clear example of this can be seen in in the early models of the station where two vertical wooden columns have been placed to carry the weight of the solar panel roof. These columns not only increase the cost of the canopy but also reduce the layout versatility of the station, important for increasing throughput when electric vehicles become more common.

Fietsenmakers was asked to give a second opinion on the construction and Fastned explicitly expressed their desire to move the design of the station back towards their architect’s original conceptual design (lightweight, slim design and without columns).

By carefully analysing the road taken thus far during the design process, backtracking unclear construction requirements, performing a structural analysis and redesigning the solar panel fixation method, Fietsenmakers together with the Fastned architecture team came up with a new design resulting in: a simplified mechanical design consisting of a slender wooden frame without columns supports in the 17-meter roof span, the elimination of 80 percent of the fixtures, elimination of all gutters between the solar modules and a total canopy cost reduction of about 40 percent. Making Fastned a satisfied customer with an aesthetically more pleasing charging station suited for the new era of electric mobility!