CEZ ups no. of charging stations to 900 so far this year

Prague, June 17 (CTK) - Semi-state energy group CEZ has increased the number of charging stations for electric vehicles by 60 to 900 so far this year and plans to operate more than 1,000 by the year's end, the company said in a press release today

The latest 360-kilowatt (kW) charger has been commissioned as part of an ultra-fast ten-stand charging station available to the public at the BMW Invelt site in Prague's Stodulky district.

The network is being expanded with funds from the Operational Programme Transport, and thanks to investments from CEZ Group's own resources

"We are building at a rate of almost 200 stations a year and are now focusing mainly on hubs with a larger number of ultra-fast stations, CEZ board deputy chairman Pavel Cyrani said. "By the end of this year, we want to operate 40 locations where we will offer drivers three or more ultra-fast stations, mainly on main roads," he added.

According to CEZ statistics on the use of chargers, people prefer shorter charging times. The company estimates that drivers will draw more than 12 million kWh of certified green electricity from its charging stands this year. At the same time, the average consumption per station will also grow, increasing by more than 10 percent year-on-year to 23 kWh this year.

In 2024, more than 70 ultra-fast 150+ kW stands were added to the largest Czech network.

In the coming weeks, CEZ's distribution subsidiary CEZ Distribuce will purchase 90 Kia EV3 electric vehicles, which will serve the needs of CEZ Distribuce employees and will be used as emergency vehicles in distribution centres across the country. CEZ already uses over 70 electric vehicles from Kia.

Rival Toyota has delivered the first 15 bZ4X electric vehicles to the state authorities under a contract for 515 vehicles concluded last year.

Another energy company, Prague-based Prazska energetika (PRE), operates 860 public charging stations in its PRE POINT network. "This year alone, we have launched a total of 116 charging stations, and we would like to add around 50 more by the end of the year. At the same time, we are accelerating the existing public charging stations. Recently, six charging stations have undergone an increase in capacity, and by the end of July, we plan to increase the capacity of another five stations," Martin Houska from PRE told CTK.

The E.ON Drive public network operates nearly 300 charging stations with more than 600 charging points. Of that total, 60 percent are DC stands, 20 percent are AC stands and 20 percent are fast UFC stands.

"We are focusing on ultra-fast chargers in the E.ON Drive public network, and the ratio is increasing significantly. This year, we plan to double the number of stations in operation from last year. That's about 200 charging points at more than 60 locations," said E.ON spokesman Roman Spernak.

tam/er