Carhaus and DealerBest present Spain's first green dealership

It adapts to the demands of electric cars and enables energy and cost savings of between 20% and 35%.

Facilities must be adapted to electric vehicles, which can consume as much electricity when charging a battery as half of a dealership's current daily consumption.

The green dealership project is a dealerBest initiative that encompasses several dealerships, of which Carhaus is the first to complete the adaptation.

Madrid, 10 July 2018. The first green dealership, located in Sant Boi in Barcelona, has just finished its trial month after three years of gradual adaptation, from early 2015 to May 2018, with savings figures of 31% in energy and 32% in costs; this new installation, carried out by dealerBest, a management and consultancy services company specialised in the automotive sector based in Madrid, and Carhaus, the official Volkswagen dealership in Barcelona, aims to adapt the dealership to the needs of the electric vehicle.

The dealership adaptation is part of dealerBest's Green Dealership project, with Carhaus being the first of several dealerships where similar measures will be taken, designed to address the energy demands that the electric vehicle will generate and, in the process, increase efficiency and energy savings by between 20-35%.

Other dealerships included in this project are Superwagen in Sant Cugat (Barcelona), which is almost complete, Grupo Seligrat in several locations in Leganes and Madrid, with a year and a half of progress, and Grupo Mundomovil in Pamplona and Zaragoza, which are still in the early stages.

Within this framework, the main measures carried out for energy savings at the Carhaus dealership are the installation of self-consumption photovoltaic systems (10% savings), the advanced monitoring and control installation (8% savings) and the replacement of traditional lighting with LED (13% savings). This amounts to a total of 31% energy savings and 32% cost savings.

Among the project's objectives is the promotion of renewable energies in the sector, mainly through the installation of self-consumption photovoltaic systems, which do not feed back into the general grid, with the main obstacle being the uncertainty generated by current legislation among business owners.

"We would like to further boost renewable energy, but right now the main limitation is legislation, which changes at every administrative level and ends up being confusing, fragmented and even sometimes unfair," comments Paco Díaz, managing director of dealerBest, "Our job is also to resolve this situation and act as consultants."

In addition to savings and increasing the use of sustainable energies, an energy adaptation of the dealership is planned, seeking to standardise and smooth out consumption, controlling the contracted power either to reduce it or to use the extra energy for other purposes such as the electric vehicle.

"This step - the green dealership - is necessary for the arrival of the electric car. Charging an electric vehicle in Premium and SUV segment brands, for example, can consume as much electricity as 50% of a dealership's current daily consumption," explains Díaz.

The electric vehicle can represent a significant energy cost if contracted power levels are not controlled, as it generates sharp peaks in electricity consumption with the fast-charging systems found in high-end electric vehicles, which are expected to begin entering the market at the end of 2018.

The project at Carhaus

Within the framework of the Green Dealership project, Carhaus and dealerBest have carried out the following actions at the dealership:

• Green energy contracting: Electricity has been contracted from a 100% renewable energy supplier.
• Basic monitoring: The electricity company's meter is monitored to obtain the consumption profile and detect abnormal expenses, generating the first savings.
• Energy audit: dealerBest has audited the dealership, gaining precise knowledge of how Carhaus consumes energy and proposing efficiency measures.
• Replacement of lighting technology with LED: 85% of its lighting power has been replaced with LED technology, achieving savings of around 50% compared to current technologies. This saving in the overall calculation means a 13% saving.
• Self-consumption photovoltaic installation: A 36 kW self-consumption photovoltaic system has been installed, generating 10% of its electricity demand. The photovoltaic system supplies the dealership's total demand during periods of low demand such as weekends, turning the building into a Zero Consumption Building at those times.
• Installation of an advanced monitoring and control system: A system has been chosen that automatically monitors and controls its main facilities: air conditioning, lighting, body and paint workshop and photovoltaics. The system performs actions such as controlling the intensity of lighting in showrooms and workshops based on external light or room usage, carrying out nighttime shutdown of lighting and air conditioning, or modifying the air conditioning power based on workshop consumption. It also allows reducing consumption and maximum demand, generating savings in both energy and power. It allows you to be fully aware of your consumption and have total control over it.

The Carhaus Green Dealership, with the photovoltaic installation on the roof, located in Sant Boi de Llobregat (Barcelona).