Electromobility

In March 2021, the federal German government adopted the Building Electric Mobility Infrastructure Act (GEIG). This obligates all property owners to install charging infrastructure for electric vehicles by 2025. Public entities can also offer other technologies such as hydrogen or fuel cells for mobility.

The University of Göttingen needs to set up about 300-350 charging points on its properties. Some of them are already available for company vehicles. But of course, employees and students with their private vehicles should also benefit from this. For this purpose, charging infrastructure pools will be formed so that economical operation is possible at several large locations. Many factors have to be taken into account here, such as the size of the available parking spaces and their accessibility, the user frequency and, of course, how the electricity needed to charge the e-vehicles gets there in the first place. Although the university has its own power supply network, the variety of framework conditions are so extensive that planning here can only be done in coordination with the Stadtwerke Göttingen and other partners in the pre-supply.

Besides the mobility of motor vehicles, the growing number of e-bikes should also be taken into consideration. Since the risk of theft is particularly high in Göttingen compared to the rest of Germany, secure boxes and/or bicycle cellars are to be built for purpose of securely parking e-bikes. In addition, battery cabinets will be offered in the service buildings so that the batteries of the e-bikes can be charged safely and in a fire-resistant manner. The facility management is working with the faculties to determine their needs so that construction can begin in the spring 2023.

E-scooters are promoted by rental companies as sustainable, but they are not. That would only be the case if they replaced car travel. In fact, however, they are used instead of rides on public transportation, organic bicycles, or walking. Therefore, their use results in increased energy demand. In addition, inappropriate parking on campus causes chaos and is a bother to gardeners, janitors, and anyone who has to make quick trips there. It also becomes very dangerous for visually handicapped and blind people, who cannot see the e-scooters properly with their white canes. For this reason, the facility management is now initially designating extra parking spaces for the e-scooters on the central campus in order to also secure that the existing parking spaces for bicycles are not blocked.