Energa to use the Fortum technology for charging electric vehicles
Fortum has signed a cooperation agreement with Energa under which it will supply an advanced cloud-based system for operating EV charging stations under the name Charge&Drive. Energa will use the technology to operate its charging stations in the Tri-City area and for further development of this kind of infrastructure in Poland.
The cooperation agreement was entered into between Fortum and Enspirion, Energa Group’s company responsible for development of e-mobility products. The cooperation will make it possible to introduce Fortum’s solution both in Energa’s existing charging stations and terminals to be installed in the future. The company has six charging stations in the Tri-City and is planning to launch another one in the next few weeks. The use of the stations is currently free of charge. Migration to the new software is planned for March. The whole operation will not have influence of the day-to-day operation of the charging service in the Energa network.
– We perceive development of e-mobility as one of the most interesting new business areas. The market is inevitably driving towards a point where clients will start to pay for charging electric vehicles. Thanks to the agreement with an experienced partner, we will be ready for that. The cooperation will guarantee our access to modern technological solutions which are successfully used in Scandinavian countries, where electric vehicles are very popular. In the next few years, we want to dynamically develop the electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Poland and thanks to this system we will be also able to support other owners of terminals in our country, connecting them to our charging station network – says Tadeusz Wita, Enspirion President.
Fortum’s Charge&Drive system based on the cloud technology supports remote monitoring and update of the charging stations. It also allows for easy payments for their use. Fortum’s experience has shown that development of comprehensive infrastructure for charging electric vehicles requires that the technological solutions applied have to be not only advanced and reliable but also customer-friendly. The users of this type of vehicles expect precise online information about the location and availability of individual charging stations, and convenient methods of payment for the service. In addition to the high level of customer service, also the quality of the chargers is key.
– We are happy that our solutions for the electric vehicle charging infrastructure become increasingly popular across the world. Currently our system covers over 1,200 charging stations. In Norway itself, each month, the terminals perform on average 60,000 charging sessions. We are convinced that our agreement will significantly contribute to development of the electric vehicle segment in Poland – says Rami Syväri of Fortum, responsible for international development of the Charge&Drive business.