Public lighting will also charge electric cars
“The electric car boom has not yet occurred in our country, but their number is growing rapidly from year to year. It is assumed that in 2030 there will be up to two hundred thousand of them in Prague. The whole project is thus a preparation for the future,” said Prague councilor for the area of property Jan Chabr, adding that when the need for a larger number of charging stations increases, the municipality is ready to install them immediately.
EV ready lamps currently serve as ordinary public lighting, but the preparatory work extends underground. It is there that, in order to install an electric car charger, cables must be installed that can supply energy for both the lamp and the car.
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Prague promises to save space and costs from the project. It therefore cooperates with the PREdistribution distribution system. “Within the joint network project for the synergistic renewal of the distribution low voltage and the Prague lighting network. This significantly reduces the costs of building preparations for charging stations,” explained the Chairman of the Board of THMP Tomáš Jílek.
Public lighting will be charged by electric cars.
The cost of building an EVR lamp compared to a standard street light pole is approximately three times higher. You also need to add the price of the charging wallbox and the fee for connecting to the distribution network. Compared to the classic construction of a charging post, including the related modification of the infrastructure, the EVR lamp is approximately three times cheaper than a charging post of the same power.
According to Jílek, the benefit is also the minimization of the time after which citizens will be restricted by the fact that Prague will be dug up due to the laying of cables.
Juice for two cars from one lamp
The project assumes that one lamp will charge two electric cars at the same time. “If there is sufficient free capacity of the distribution network at the location of the lamp, the power of the station will be 44 kW. Otherwise, 22 kW. It must be added that the performance of the stations is significantly higher than we are in other European cities. It is precisely for this reason that we do not use standard cables for powering public lighting, but connect the lamp directly from the distribution system,” adds Jílek.
Citizens will find the first thirteen lamps ready for future charging of electric cars in Prague’s Vinohrady, for example in Slezská or Chodská streets. “The EVR lamps in Vinohrady currently only serve the function of public lighting, but they should already be equipped with charging wallboxes during December of this year. THMP will provide its customers with charging chips for the charging stations, which they will also be able to use with all other charging station providers in the Czech Republic and THMP’s contractual partners in Europe,” says THMP vice-chairman Tomáš Novotný.
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In the future, lamps with recharging should appear in Bohnice, Vršovice, Vinohrady, Velká Ohrady, Dvorce, Kobylis and Chodovec. In the long term, Libeň, Břevnov, Vysočany, Žižkov, Holešovice, Nusle or Bubeneč are planned.
This year, the capital wants to replace over 650 lamps, and it will be possible to connect chargers to almost two of them. New charging stations are also to be created at public parking stations. According to outgoing mayor Zdenek Hřiba (Pirates), the goal of the municipality is to operate 750 charging stations by 2025 and four and a half thousand by 2030.