[NEWS] Romania expands its charging network

In recent years, the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles is growing steadily. Romanian drivers are increasingly attracted to the advantages of this type of cars, which use alternative energy sources. Among the main barriers that limit potential buyers in choosing an electric vehicle are the purchase price, the e-cars autonomy and the distribution of the fast charging stations network in the country. Both the private sector and the public authorities have understood these needs and have taken measures to develop the sustainable transport sector. To alleviate this shortcoming, two big companies have decided to develop new charging stations networks throughout the country, including the Bucharest-Ilfov region.

Enel X Romania, the energy services division of the Enel Group, has installed and put into operation a network of 34 charging points in Bucharest and the surrounding areas. Most of the first series of charging points are 2 × 22 kW units called JuicePole, which allow drivers to recharge two electric vehicles simultaneously with a level of the battery charging about 40% in 30 minutes, depending on their car model and specifications. Other type of charging stations are the JuicePump version, with a power of 50 kW DC or 22 or 43 kW AC. Charging points can be used at a fixed price per unit of consumption (kWh), or drivers can pay a subscription (that comes in two versions: Basic X or Premium X) which includes a certain number of kWh per month, a certain reservation fee for a specific charging point and a fixed price per kWh. Drivers can find these charging points using the JuicePass application, with which they can see the entire network of over 50,000 public charging points currently existing in 18 European countries, using the interoperability partnership with IONITY and SMATRICS charging network operators. The app can be downloaded from Google Play or the App Store, and the installation guide can be accessed on the company's website - www.enelx.com/en/en where users can also see the map of the stations in the network. Enel X Romania has the largest public electric mobility infrastructure plan in the country, which includes the installation of about 2,500 charging points in all regions of the country by 2023, involving a total investment of approximately 20 million euro.

More recently, another energy supplier - the E.ON Company has completed the installation of the first 19 fast charging stations within the European project NEXT-E, consisting in the installation of 40 fast charging stations - in Romania, and a total of 252 charging stations installed in 6 different European countries. Of those that have been already installed, three stations are in Bucharest, and the rest in other Romanian regions. These are integrated in a monitoring and management system for loading sessions, which provides non-stop scanning and has the ability to remotely resolve any incidents that occur during charging. Electric vehicle users can access and book stations directly on harta-statii.eondrive.ro or through the E.ON Drive mobile application, available for both Android and iOS. So far, through the NEXT-E network, the owners of electric or hybrid vehicles have used over 46,000 kWh of electricity and have traveled over 310,000 km, the impact on the environment being a reduction of 37,2 tons of CO2.

Thus, we can conclude that these results show that the installation of the new stations is a real success, and the network expansion carried out by both companies will contribute for the increasing in the attractiveness of purchasing electric vehicles. As the acquisition of this type of cars, that use alternative fuels, is closely linked to the increase in the number of charging points, it is expected to facilitate more and more the conversion to a sustainable mobility.