The service won’t be reserved only for Croatian drivers, but available to tourists
From the beginning of next year, along with prices of biological fuels, we will be monitoring the price of electricity for vehicles. Croatian Telekom (HT) announced without much fervour a series of preparations to begin charging e-vehicles in 2017 and open a new source of income, Poslovni Dnevnik reported on July 13, 2016.
The company, whose base business are telecommunication services, has grown into the largest player on the market of charging stations for e-vehicles. HT manages 55 stations of a total of 110 that exist in Croatia. In other words, 50% of the market. Through cooperation with the Berlin start-up PlugSurfing they are offering this service to visitors to Croatia as well.
“As there is cell phone roaming, so will there be roaming for charging electric vehicles, enabling you to fill up in partner stations around Europe,” said Dino Novosel, head of HT’s project Puni.hr. HT clarified that charging through PlugSurfing will be fully activate by the end of July. Then e-vehicle owners will be able to use any of 25,000 charging stations around Europe. Currently, all charging is free. Station managers have not yet begun charging for the service.
However, HT is preparing to do so in the beginning of next year. Part of its charging stations already have a monthly traffic of 500 kWh which makes them ready for commercialisation, which does not have to hit the owner’s pocket, but can be arranged with shopping malls, cities or tourism industry, anyone looking to offer a better service to their customers.
Novosel states user want a simpler way of charging. SO HT and partners have developed a payment service through RFID and SMS, with a mobile app to follow. HT’s report for last year indicated a first growth since the crisis, “especially due to ICT area and electric energy business,” something not given attention before.
HT also notes they have delivered 25,000 kWh of power through their charging stations. “Enough for 200 thousand kilometres of green range, reducing the consumption of oil derivatives by 20 thousand litres and eliminating 16 tonnes of CO2 emissions,” HT stated.
