First ultra-fast charging station from PKN Orlen
The Polish petroleum company PKN Orlen has put into operation the first ultra-fast charging station for electric vehicles. It is located in the northern part of the A-1 motorway at the Machniarz South rest area, which is only a few kilometres away from the company’s headquarters in Płock. The charging station allows batteries to be charged from 10 to 80 per cent in less than 20 minutes. The charging power is 175 kW, which, however, is only at the lower end of the HPC range. HPC is the abbreviation for High Power Charging or ultra-fast charging. The HPC scale is specified for charging power from 150 kW to 450 kW and beyond. During fast charging, only direct current flows. The alternating current taken from the power grid is converted into direct current by the charging station and fed directly into the car battery, bypassing the grid converter in the car. PKN Orlen currently owns 470 charging stations in Poland.
There are a total of 1,900 charging stations in Poland, of which 1,391 are AC chargers (as of I / 2022). Compared to the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands or Germany (29,700 of which over 6,000 are fast chargers), Poland is a developing country in terms of e-infrastructure. With the exception of Warsaw, Poland is one of the laggards in Europe in terms of the number of e-charging points per 1000 inhabitants and the number of electric vehicles. PKN Orlen has announced that around 1000 charging stations will be built in Poland by the end of 2030. Obviously, the decision-making bodies at the state-controlled and managed company do not expect electric mobility to develop quickly in Poland. In contrast, PKN Orlen wants to build 868 charging stations in Germany, where the company owns more than 600 petrol stations (Star/Orlen). PKN Orlen will do this quickly over the next three years.
Source: Wirtschafts-Markt Polen (16-2022 Issue 320)
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