Learn EV charging hub design from ACCIONA's 42-bay, 2 MW Spain site — charger mix, load and transformer tips for Indian malls. Talk to EVision India today.
When ACCIONA Energía and Castellana Properties switched on their new site in Spain, they gave the industry a near-perfect case study in EV charging hub design — 42 bays, three charger classes and a 2 MW grid connection sitting inside a busy shopping centre. For anyone planning a multi-bay charging plaza in India, the engineering choices behind that project are worth studying closely.
At EVision India, we build and operate charging infrastructure across Himachal Pradesh, so we read this launch not as distant news but as a blueprint. Below, we unpack what ACCIONA did, why each decision matters, and how you would adapt the same thinking for an Indian mall, highway food plaza or airport car park.
The facility opened at the El Faro shopping centre in Badajoz, in Spain's Extremadura region, and is described as one of the country's largest publicly accessible charging stations. According to ACCIONA's announcement, the site has 42 charging bays and 2,000 kW of contracted power, sized to hold up even during peak demand.
What makes it a teaching example is the deliberately mixed charger line-up:
The hardware is supplied by charging manufacturer Circutor, and, as EV Infrastructure News reports, the station supports both app-linked sessions and ad-hoc charging, with drivers managing sessions through ACCIONA's own app.
That single detail — three power tiers under one roof — is the heart of good EV charging hub design, and it is the first lesson Indian developers should absorb.
The instinct many first-time site owners have is to install identical chargers everywhere. It feels fair and simple. It is also expensive and inefficient.
ACCIONA's split works because it matches [charger power to customer dwell time](/blog/commercial-ev-charger-ac-vs-dc-offices-apartments-fleets):
Spreading capacity this way lets you serve more vehicles per rupee of transformer and cabling. If ACCIONA had made all 42 bays ultra-fast, the contracted load would have ballooned far beyond 2 MW — and most of that costly capacity would sit idle while shoppers browsed.
Our solutions team applies exactly this logic to every site survey: profile the customer, measure the dwell time, then size the charger.
Here is how we translate the Badajoz model into an India-specific [EV charging station for shopping mall](/solutions) and other property types. Treat this as a starting mix to refine with real footfall data:
Dwell time of 1.5–3 hours. Lean on 22–30 kW AC and a smaller cluster of 60–120 kW DC units near the entrance for quick top-ups. Retail dwell time is your friend here — see the revenue point below.
Dwell time of 20–45 minutes. Prioritise 120–240 kW DC ultra-fast chargers so cars, buses and light commercial vehicles can move on quickly. This is the closest India analogue to ACCIONA's eight ultra-fast bays.
Two very different users: short-stay drop-off (fast DC) and long-stay parking (plentiful low-cost 7–22 kW AC). Split the site into two zones.
Mostly long-dwell commuter parking, so AC-heavy with a few DC bays for taxis and fleet vehicles.
Blend employee AC charging (all-day dwell) with a handful of DC bays for visitors and fleets.
A concise comparison:
| Property type | Typical dwell | Recommended lean | |---|---|---| | Shopping mall | 1.5–3 hrs | Mostly AC 22 kW + some 60–120 kW DC | | Highway food plaza | 20–45 min | Mostly 120–240 kW DC | | Airport | Mixed | Zoned: fast DC drop-off + AC long-stay | | Railway parking | 4–10 hrs | AC-heavy + few DC | | Commercial complex | All day | AC for staff + DC for visitors/fleet |
A 2 MW connection is not a plug — it is a high-tension (HT) supply that reshapes the whole electrical room. Planning EV charging station transformer capacity early is what separates projects that open on time from those stuck waiting on the utility.
For a hub of this size in India you would typically need:
Because 240 kW EV charger infrastructure draws heavy, sustained current, cable sizing and heat management become genuine engineering problems, not afterthoughts. Our process page walks through how we coordinate DISCOM approvals, transformer sizing and civil works in Himachal Pradesh's hill terrain, where cable runs and grid access are rarely straightforward.
Here is the crucial insight ACCIONA's 2 MW figure quietly demonstrates. Add up the nameplate ratings:
That sits just under the 2,000 kW contracted power — meaning this site is provisioned close to full simultaneous draw, a conservative, high-availability choice for a flagship location.
Most Indian sites will not be used that hard at once. This is where the EV charging station load calculation and the diversity factor come in. The diversity factor accounts for the fact that not every charger runs at full power simultaneously. Applying a realistic factor (often 0.6–0.8 for public hubs, lower for workplace AC) lets you contract a smaller supply and cut both connection charges and demand tariffs — without leaving drivers waiting.
The right factor depends on your traffic pattern, which is why we model it per site rather than copy a textbook number. A well-judged diversity factor is often the single biggest cost lever in commercial EV charging infrastructure India projects.
Dynamic load management (DLM) is how you square a smaller contracted supply with a full car park. The controller continuously shares available power across active chargers — throttling a session slightly when the site is busy, then restoring full speed as bays free up.
For a multi-bay EV charging station, DLM means you can install 42 bays without paying for 42 chargers' worth of peak grid capacity. It also protects your transformer from overload and helps you stay inside sanctioned demand limits. We build DLM into the products and controllers we deploy as standard.
Charging hubs fail on car-park design as often as on electrical design. Lessons that scale from a 40-bay site:
Group your fastest chargers nearest the exit and destination AC bays deeper in the lot — the same natural flow ACCIONA's dwell-based mix encourages.
With 42 bays and three tiers, ACCIONA has built-in redundancy: if one unit faults, drivers simply move to another. Designing for redundancy — spare bays, N+1 thinking on critical fast chargers, and remote monitoring — is a core part of resilient EV charging hub design and essential for a public site's reputation. A hub that is "always working" wins repeat traffic; one plagued by dead chargers loses it permanently.
ACCIONA's site supports both an app and ad-hoc charging, and India should insist on the same. App-based charging drives loyalty, promotions and data; ad-hoc (tap-to-pay, UPI or QR) removes friction for first-time and out-of-state drivers who will not download yet another app. Offer both, and you never turn a paying customer away. We help operators configure this dual model as part of our services.
The reason a mall wants chargers is not the electricity margin — it is footfall. Every minute a driver charges is a minute they might spend in your food court or stores. That is why ACCIONA's destination-oriented 22 kW bays make commercial sense inside a shopping centre: longer dwell equals more spend. In India, framing charging as a footfall engine, not just an amenity, is how you convince mall and plaza owners to invest.
Two upgrades turn a charging hub into a resilient energy asset:
Together they reduce demand charges and carbon footprint — exactly the sustainability positioning Castellana Properties highlighted for El Faro.
High-power DC hubs demand serious safety engineering: clearly marked emergency stop and isolation switches, adequate spacing between chargers, fire detection and suppression appropriate to the electrical load, and ventilation. In India, align with local fire NOC requirements and DISCOM norms from the design stage — retrofitting safety is costly and slow.
Good EV charging hub design is not copied — it is adapted. EVision India operates only across Himachal Pradesh, and the ACCIONA model maps neatly onto our terrain. Tourist-heavy malls and highway plazas on routes toward Shimla, Manali and Dharamshala are ideal candidates for a mixed-tier hub: ultra-fast DC for travellers on the move, destination AC for those stopping to eat, shop or stay overnight.
If you own a mall, plaza or commercial complex and want a hub designed around real dwell times and a smart load plan, explore our locations — including Shimla — or get in touch to start a site survey. Learn more about us and how we deliver charging infrastructure built for the hills.
There is no fixed number — it depends on footfall, parking size and dwell time. A better question is the charger mix. Like ACCIONA's 42-bay site, lean on destination AC chargers (22 kW) with a smaller cluster of fast DC units near the entrance, then scale bays as demand grows.
The diversity factor reflects that not every charger runs at full power at the same time. Multiplying total nameplate power by a realistic factor (often 0.6–0.8 for public hubs) gives a truer simultaneous load, letting you contract a smaller, cheaper grid connection without leaving drivers waiting.
Yes. A hub approaching megawatt-scale contracted load needs an HT connection and dedicated distribution transformer sized above the simultaneous load, plus LT panels and heavy cabling. EVision India coordinates transformer sizing and DISCOM approvals as part of every large project in Himachal Pradesh.
Both. App-based charging drives loyalty and data, while ad-hoc payment via QR or UPI removes friction for first-time and out-of-state drivers. ACCIONA's Badajoz hub supports both, and Indian sites should too so no paying customer is turned away.
Because it is expensive and wasteful. Ultra-fast bays need far more grid capacity and hardware. Matching charger power to how long customers actually stay — fast for quick stops, AC for long dwell — serves more vehicles at lower cost, which is exactly why ACCIONA mixed 240 kW, 80 kW and 22 kW chargers.
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