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Estonia’s Nationwide EV Fast Charger Network a Global First

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Public Charging Stations
Public Charging Stations

Use of Estonia’s fast charger network isn’t free, but is located in very convenient locations and covered by a single payment system. Other countries could take a lesson from this tiny corner of Europe, especially if they’re looking to clear the air in urban and other areas.

Every time someone considers purchasing an electric vehicle, one thing that must surely come up in the mind is whether they can get it charged up on the road. Of course, a home charger is a given, but outside of home and possibly business, this can get difficult depending on where you live.

California is a pretty safe bet to find one of some 3,500 public-access fast-charging stations, and electric vehicles sell best where the infrastructure supports them. While here in the US, Tesla Motors has led the way in providing fast-charging stations for public use, other cities and countries are taking the reins to improve infrastructure to increase electric vehicle adoption rates.

Recently, Holland announced their plans to increase the number of public-access fast-chargers in the nation. Estonia, on the other hand, has just finished the first nationwide fast charger network. The first of its kind in the world, Estonia’s 165 new fast-chargers are available for use by the public and government employees.

Estonia actually has about one electric vehicle for every thousand conventional vehicles, which is only second to Norway. Norway has about four electric vehicles per thousand conventional, and The Netherlands comes in third at 0.6 per thousand.

“We have proved that there is a real possibility to set up a network in a country, and there are no technical barriers,” Jarmo Tuisk, head of the program which has run the scheme to set up the network, said. The network, produced and installed by ABB, was financed by selling off carbon permits to Mitsubishi.

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