A low-maintenance charging station made with Arfinio®

As more and more people and businesses have transitioned to using electric vehicles (EVs), EV charging stations have become a crucial element of transport infrastructure. They also provide new opportunities: for example, businesses can install charging stations in their parking lots to attract EV users and increase customer satisfaction.

For customers and end-users of charging station producer VEGA Chargers, the most valued properties in these charging stations are appealing designs that are durable and easy to clean, repair, and recycle. It was these qualities that VEGA Chargers had in mind when designing its new ALOHA Gravity wall-mounted charger.

Charging stations are typically made from metal, high-density plastics, or standard molded and painted materials, which each have limitations. Metals are heavy and prone to corrosion or rust over time; high-density plastics have limited resistance to UV radiation and are harder to recycle; and painted materials are challenging to repair, which is crucial for public charging stations.

Instead, VEGA Chargers wanted a more sustainable material that combined the durability of metal, the low weight and design flexibility of high-density plastics, and the repairability, and visual and haptic appeal, of solid surfaces.

The key challenge for Covestro was process accuracy: the chargers delivered to VEGA needed to have precise dimensions down to the millimeter, or the electrical components of the charging station would not fit into the wall-mounted box seamlessly. This precision needed to be achieved in one shot for every wall-mounted casing, without defects – including in its intricate spider-web design.

VEGA Chargers found the solution in Arfinio®: a technology Covestro developed together with Arcesso Dynamics that uses RIM on aliphatic polyurethanes. Unlike metals and many plastics, Arfinio® can be molded with unprecedented accuracy into intricate and complex shapes, such as the spider-web design of the ALOHA Gravity wall-mounted box. This single-step production process also removes the waste of material through cutting, an important sustainability benefit.

Arfinio® also provides an appealing experience to end-users, enabling minimalist, modern designs and pleasant haptics. These designs can combine form and functionality – the ALOHA Gravity’s spider-web design, for instance, serves a key ventilation function. 

At the same time, the wall-mounted casing is highly durable, easy to clean, and offers unprecedented on-site repairability. The monomaterial composition of Arfinio® makes it easier to enable highly complex designs in a single mold, reducing weak points such as joints and minimizing maintenance needs. Damaged sections can be sanded, filled, or refinished quickly, restoring both appearance and functionality in no time. And if significant repair is needed,  the monomaterial composition of Arfinio® makes it easier to recycle and reuse for new surfaces made with Arfinio®!