The European Investment Bank (EIB) is working alongside Enel to install about 14,000 charging stations for electric vehicles throughout Italy, over the next five years. This is the objective of the agreement signed in Rome by the EIB and Enel X Mobility, a subsidiary of Enel X, the Enel Group business line that focuses on developing digital solutions. Enel X Mobility will receive a 10-year loan totalling 115 million euros, guaranteed by Enel Spa, of which 50 million euros have already been finalised.
As for the EIB, which will support about 50% of Enel X Mobility’s total investment, the transaction is part of one of its main activity areas: financing projects that fight climate change in the areas of innovation and sustainable mobility. Enel X is committed to giving a substantial boost to the development of electric mobility in Italy with its National Programme, which aims to provide the country with 7,000 charging points by 2020, to reach up to a total of 14,000 by the end of 2022, for a total investment of about 300 million euros.
“We are firmly committed to giving Italy a decisive boost to developing a sustainable mobility system. Our plan is ambitious, and it is important to have the EIB on board to implement it,” said Enel CEO Francesco Starace. “We will build a widespread and technologically advanced infrastructure, which will help increase the number of electric cars on the road in Italy and will significantly benefit the environment, the economic system, businesses and citizens, improving their daily lives, as well as travel and consumption habits. “We have a long tradition with Enel of projects which always pay a great deal of attention to environmental issues and are aimed at maximising the final benefits for households and SMEs,” said EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco. “After the modernisation of power plants or our 1 billion euro commitment to install 41 million new digital meters, we are now particularly pleased to support this project: electric cars will help improve the lives of the population, in terms of less air pollution and noise.”
Enel X’s extensive charging network will consist of Quick (22 kW) stations in urban areas as well as Fast (50 kW) and Ultra Fast (over 150 kW) stations for fast recharging in extra-urban areas. Over 60% of the charging stations will be installed in large metropolitan areas and other cities, while the rest will ensure an initial nation-wide coverage, to support medium and long travel, in suburban areas and on long-distance roads. This latest infrastructure includes the charging stations of the EVA+ (Electric Vehicles Arteries).
The project, co-funded by the European Commission, which envisages the installation, in three years, of 180 charging stations along Italian extra-urban routes, or the 46 sites of the E-VIA FLEX-E and Central European Ultra Charging projects, also co-funded by the European Commission, which will provide high-power charging of electric vehicles with a range of over 400 km that will be on the market by the end of 2018, an important step towards mass market uptake.
To roll out the National Programme, Enel X is implementing agreements with municipal and regional administrations, institutions and businesses, to set up charging infrastructures in public or open-access private areas. As of today, more than 350 municipalities signed agreements with Enel X for the installation of charging infrastructure.