Last year, the ČEZ Group's network of public charging stations in the Czech Republic, which currently numbers more than 270 charging points, filled electric car batteries with a total of 2.44 GWh of electricity last year. This amount of energy is enough to fully charge 67,825 middle-class electric cars with a battery capacity of 36 kWh or for a fleet of 406 e-cars to travel around the world. At the same time, it is an increase of more than 24 percent compared to 2019, when electric cars drew 1.96 GWh in the entire network of chargers.

ČEZ guarantees drivers the consumption of truly emission-free energy at most of its stands – thanks to the certification of the origin of electricity from renewable sources of the market operator OTE. Fast charging stations with an output of 50 kW, which make up 80% of the network today, make it possible to recharge most of the capacity of batteries of all types and brands of electric vehicles in the order of tens of minutes.

“Last year was really very specific, but we still managed to build 62 percent more stations than in 2019. We also estimate that about half of the 3,000 electric cars newly registered last year regularly consume energy in our country. This year, despite the ongoing pandemic, we would like to maintain last year's pace of building up new stations. Within five years, we aim to triple the total power of stations in our network to 50,000 kW. We will focus on further covering “blank spots” throughout the country, as well as in locations where there is a possibility of increasing the number and performance of chargers. Today, only those will be able to cover the dynamically growing demand for public charging in more busy places“, says Tomáš Chmelík, ČEZ Clean Technology Section Manager.

ČEZ CHARGERS THROUGH NUMBERS

• ČEZ has been maintaining roughly 50% share of the domestic charging station market. For more, visit http://www.elektromobilita.cz/cs/mapa-dobijecich-stanic.html.
• The total rated capacity of charging points in the network is 17.8 thousand kW, which is, for example, the equivalent of a medium-sized hydroelectric power plant supplying emission-free electricity to households in a city with 50,000 residents.
• Each of the more than 270 stations represents two charging points, so the network can supply ecological energy to the batteries of almost 550 electric cars at one time.
• Last year, electric vehicles stopped at CEZ charging stations to charge for a total of 185,329 times. This is a 20.6% increase compared to 2019 with 153,612 chargings.
• While the average electricity consumption of one “refuelling” was stabilized at 12.7 kWh in previous years, last year it increased to 13.6 kWh. Especially in the first half of the year affected by severe pandemic restrictions, people stored more energy in car batteries.
• The largest amount of energy has been traditionally consumed by drivers in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region, with Prague and Olomouc stands dominating the station charts.
• Growth was again set mainly by fast charging stations. At these stations, electric cars drew more than 91% of all electricity consumed in the network of ČEZ charging stations.
• There are more than 500 professional public chargers in operation in the Czech Republic. There are about 10 electric cars per one charging station, which is the optimal ratio also held by countries with developed electromobility.

DURING 2020, A NEW CUSTOMER APPLICATION FUTUR/E/GO SET UP ON THE ADVANCED ISRAELI PLATFORM DRIIVZ WAS LAUNCHED. AMONG OTHER THINGS, IT WILL ALLOW DRIVERS TO:

• charge the electric car using only a mobile phone with a downloaded application (i.e. without a chip login)
• find the nearest charging station + current travel time to the location,
• show the current occupancy of individual chargers + long-term average occupancy of chargers during specific hours of the day (for better trip planning)
• at any time during charging, give the driver information on where, how fast the car will be charged, how long will it take to charge, how long it has been charging, etc.

When using the entire network of  ČEZ charging stations, users identify themselves with a customer RFID card before charging. For e-car drivers, it will also be enough to download the  FUTUR/E/GO application launched this year, which, together with a web interface (the so-called driver's portal), makes it easy to manage their accounts. ČEZ customers have a choice of different tariffs. The three tariffs contain a “prepaid” component, which provides the customer with a lower price per kWh of charged energy. The fourth “Pay as you go” tariff is intended for customers who do not want to be bound in any way and only pay for the subscription in a given month. Of course, the offer also includes charging for unregistered customers, who pay for each one-time session. For more, visit https://www.elektromobilita.cz/cs/jak-se-stat-zakaznikem.

The ČEZ Group has been active in the area of electromobility development since 2009. Since the very beginning, its primary activity has been the construction and operation of public charging stations. Today its scope is much wider and includes a service to customers from the retail segment (ČEZ Prodej, s.r.o.) as well as a service to clients from the business sector, municipalities or regions (ČEZ ESCO). The ČEZ Group provides, for example, design and installation of turnkey charging stations, electrification of car fleets, charging platforms, including IT solutions, rentals or sales of electric cars or wallboxes and charging cables. For local authorities, ČEZ offers the implementation and operation of charging stations for electric buses or design of electromobility concepts in individual towns and regions. For more, visit http://www.elektromobilita.cz/cs/mapa-dobijecich-stanic.html