The center consists of 11 charging stands with an output of 50 kW, which will serve up to 22 electric cars thanks to two connectors. It was established on the southern edge of the city by the D5 motorway in the parking lot of the Olympia Plzeň shopping center.
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The head of ČEZ’s electromobility department, Tomáš Dzurilla, said that ČEZ, which opened the center, wants to be ready when electric cars start to increase in the country by tens of thousands a year. According to him, one stand will cost about a million crowns.
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“One of the trends this year is therefore charging hubs (centers), which will allow six or more e-cars to draw energy at once. These give electric car drivers the certainty that they will not have to wait long for refueling, and electric cars can thus become an equivalent alternative for long journeys, ”said Dzurilla.
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According to the photos, it seems that the installed stands are the most common type of stands with two cables for 50kW DC charging – one CCS Combo and one CHAdeMO. They are complemented by a Mennekes-type socket for AC charging with an output of up to 22 kW. With this type of stand, it is not possible to charge with the CCS Combo and CHAdeMO cables at the same time – if one is connected, the other will be deactivated. However, the 22kW socket remains active.
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The most common stand for charging electric cars in the ČEZ network has one CCS Combo connector (gray), one CHAdeMO connector (blue) and one Mennekes type socket (black under the cover on the far left).
The vast majority of electric cars currently on the market are used by the CCS Combo standard, including Volkswagen electric cars. CHAdeMO is an older Asian standard, from which manufacturers are gradually turning away, as it does not handle higher charging powers than about 50 kW.
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CEZ wants to replace one current stand for a fast 300kW station at Olympia within a month. “If the drivers drive more on them, we’ll put eleven of them here,” he said. Their price is double that of the current 50-pound chargers, but for the latest electric cars, the standard is to hold over 100 and 200 kW of charging power.
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At the same time, with the growing capacity of the batteries, the 50kW charger ceases to be really fast, when, for example, charging a 77kWh battery of a Volkswagen ID.4 from 25 to 80%. The novelties in last year’s test took 50 minutes.
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CEZ’s charging network with approximately 430 racks is now the largest in the Czech Republic. It now has 36 public stations in the Pilsen Region, ie more than a quarter of the total number in the region, where other companies such as Pražská energetika, E.ON and petrol stations have stands. In addition to Pilsen, ČEZ also has chargers in Domažlice, Kašperské Hory, Plasy, Přeštice, Železná Ruda, and there are eight stations on the D5 motorway at the 83rd km near Šlovice.
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New 50kW stands were supplied by ABB. “Our shopping center wants to be well prepared for the time when several times more people will drive to us for shopping than today,” said Olympia manager Marek Audes.
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The new largest charging center for electric cars in the Czech Republic
Photo: Miroslav Chaloupka, CTK
More than four-fifths of CEZ’s network consists of 50 kW racks, which allow all types of electric cars to be charged in tens of minutes. The total installed capacity of charging points in the ČEZ network is over 27,000 kilowatts, which is the equivalent of a medium-sized hydroelectric power plant supplying a city of 75,000.
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CEZ and unregistered customers pay for subscriptions according to the type of station and charging speed. “Now the price on our stands is even lower – eight crowns per kilowatt hour (for a registered customer at a 50kW connection – ed. Note), the new one will be 13 crowns,” said Dzurilla.
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CEZ wants to have over 800 stands for charging electric cars by 2025. He expects to break the 4 million kWh limit of energy consumed next year. According to Dzurilla, electricity consumption is increasing by about 50% year-on-year, and according to him and public sources, over 11,000 electric cars are registered in the Czech Republic.
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