kostner, Vahrn, South Tyrol, Italy

Entry profile – ‘Best EV Hub in the World’ 2025 – Highway

The site named kostner E-CHARGE is located in Vahrn in South Tyrol (Italy), on the busy transit route of the Brenner axis, and is conveniently located near the motorway exit.

The high-quality construction in a modern design and the extensive additional services of the charging park stand out due to the fact that it is part of a holistic service station that provides many services and offers for all vehicle owners.

In addition to refuelling and charging, the services offered include a modern car wash for car care, a restaurant serving regional dishes, a cafeteria and an extensive selection of snacks, a small shop, a meeting corner, as well as indoor and outdoor toilet facilities.

The range of services is continuously being adapted to meet the needs of our customers. The focus being on the supply of people and vehicles.

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Site Overview

The main target group of the site are drivers of passenger cars. Of the total number of charging customers, about 90% are people travelling through on the Brenner axis. The remaining 10% are local residents from South Tyrol.

The majority of people travelling through are from Germany, with some from the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. 99% of the vehicles charged are passenger cars.

Since the number of electric vehicles with trailers (boats, caravans) is increasing, a separate charging infrastructure is to be created especially for this target group.

The site is roofed, protecting customers from sun, snow and rain. The carport is fitted with specially designed photovoltaic panels that allow daylight to shine through.

As mentioned above, the entire charging park is characterised by the extensive range of services offered. Part of the modern design is the so-called ‘Fit&Clean Box’, which is attached to the bays of some charging stations.

It offers a seat, cleaning utensils, a windscreen wiper, a rubbish bin and a pull-up bar, as well as a vacuum cleaner that can be used at no cost during the charging process.

The Fit&Clean Box has been honoured with the European Design Award in the category ‘Better Future’ (2023), an award for particularly sustainable projects.

In addition to charging stations, refuelling is also offered, with a focus on sustainable fuels such as HVO eco diesel. Furthermore, the site offers a car wash, a meeting corner, a bar, a restaurant, a covered lounge area, snacks, Wi-Fi and other accessories.

Alpitronic HYC300 and Tesla Supercharger are available as charging marks. The food is house brand and the coffee brand is Hausbrandt. There is also a shop where you can buy primarily car accessories, but also drinks, sweet snacks and ice cream to take away.

EV Charging

The site has a total of 12 charging stations, with another 4 planned.

• 6 of the 12 charging spots are from kostner E-CHARGE, equipped with 2 state-of-the-art Hypercharger 400 fast charging stations from Alpitronic with a charging capacity of 300 kW and a Hypercharger 50 with 50 kW charging capacity.
• In addition, 6 Tesla Supercharger charging stations with a charging capacity of up to 250 kW.

The photovoltaic system on the roof of the charging station has an output of 36.9 kW and consists of 123 modules, each with an output of 300W. It saves around 76,000 kg of CO₂ per year and covers around 2,000 charging sessions. The charging of the vehicles themselves saves around 120,000 kg of CO₂ per year.

In addition to the photovoltaic panels, the electricity comes from the green energy provider ‘KOSI’, a house brand that, like the entire service station, belongs to the kostner GROUP 1947. The charging capacity provided by the grid operator is up to 2.5 MW.

The charging park is well lit at night. When a car drives into a parking space, motion sensors trigger additional strong lighting. This increases comfort and safety. The most important thing for customers is the ability to use a toilet at any time of night or day.

In a comprehensive customer interview, the customers praised the entire range on offer and the charging experience. In particular, the extensive range of products, the cleanliness, the appealing design, the Fit&Clean box, the available sit-down areas, the free use of the vacuum cleaner, the free access to the toilet and the free Wi-Fi were rated as ‘VERY GOOD’. Features that make the charging experience comfortable and safe are the covered area and the lighting.

The entire range of services offered by the service station could be expanded to include smart overnight accommodation. The aim is to enable customers to easily book, open and pay for their rooms online.

This will allow people travelling through the area to plan their trip with an overnight stay and a charging stop. In the next few years, this improvement measure will be implemented.

Utilisation rate

On average, calculated on operating time, the charging park is used to 16%.

Uptime

The charging points are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This means that customers can charge their vehicles at any time.

Maintenance

We are working together with a backend operator and using a software solution from the company be.ENERGISED. The software enables real-time monitoring of the entire charging facility. If an error occurs at a charging device, support automatically receives an email alert and can react immediately.

Additional Mobility offers

In addition to the charging area, there are another 10 fuel pumps at the service station. A total of five different types of fuel are available: 95 octane petrol, 100 octane petrol, B7 diesel, HVO100 and AdBlue. HVO100 is a fossil-free biofuel that is made from 100% renewable raw and waste materials and is therefore biodegradable. CO₂ emissions are reduced by up to 90% throughout the entire cycle.

Integrated Customer Journey

The overall impression, the atmosphere, the security, the comfort, the hygiene, the extensive range of primary needs such as a toilet, but also food and drinks to go or to consume on site, shape the customer experience.

In addition to breakfast and lunch, other snacks are also offered.

We use QR codes attached to the charging stations to contact customers digitally. The QR code contains all the information about the site and its additional services, such as prices, opening hours of the main building, how to use the vacuum cleaner for free, and so on.

The site is very easy to find in a prominent location near the motorway. Customers can also find us because we are listed on all public charging station portals and are therefore easy to locate.

In the previously mentioned survey, customers indicated that they would definitely return because, in addition to being able to charge their vehicles, they enjoy their stay and can make good use of their time for a relaxing break.

We already strongly fulfil the customer experience. However, we would like to further improve the direct payment process to optimise the customer experience even more.

We are trying to offer a holistic experience. Charging electric vehicles should be part of a seamless experience that is centred around the driver’s needs. The charging park is our pilot project, and we have put a lot of energy and effort into it to take the experience to a new level.

Ease of Payment

There are three payment options available:

1. Direct payment
A secure QR code payment system is currently implemented. In a further step, new payment technologies are being considered as soon as they become market-ready and user-friendly

2. Roaming cards
Roaming cards include a wide range of charging cards from third-party providers.

3. Company card
For local business customers, a customer-specific company card is offered.

Price information can be found by scanning the QR code on the charging stations. The price for direct payment is also displayed on the fuel price board.

The total cost at the end of the charge is not displayed for roaming cards, as this is not possible. With charging cards, we do not know what the respective provider charges per kWh. Therefore, we cannot know what the customer has to pay in total.

With direct payment, on the other hand, the price is visible in advance. If a customer has a company card, in other words is registered with us, they are informed about the price.

Company overview

The company kostner SERVICE STATIONS is part of the holding company kostner GROUP 1947 and offers refuelling and charging of vehicles as well as services such as car washing and gastronomy at a total of 10 locations throughout South Tyrol, Italy.

The first charging station at the site in the locality of Vahrn was put into operation in March 2024. The installation of charging stations at the sites in the localities of Schnals and Mals are planned for spring 2025.

The Kostner Group has so far mainly stood for energy supply with fossil fuels, but in the future the group would like to move towards renewable energies.