OREANDA-NEWS. OKKO filling station network has equipped 34 of its stations, which are located on lively highways, with KEBA P20 charging stations for charging electric cars. Now owners of electric vehicles can cross Ukraine without problems, as in any part of the country OKKO enables them to recharge their vehicle. This service is free.

"The market for electric vehicles in the world is developing very dynamically. Over the past 4 years, their sales have increased 10 times. Increasingly, buying electric, people are guided not only by cheap electricity, but also environmental consciousness. When this trend reaches Ukraine, every electric vehicle driver will already know that he gets full service at OKKO filling stations. This is an investment in our future ", said Oleksander Hehedysh, COO of OKKO network, during the presentation of the first national charging station network for electric cars, which was held on 23 December at OKKO filling station in Gatne near Kyiv. According to him, in Ukraine there still is some vicious circle: there are little electric vehicles because there are no points for their comfortable recharging, and vice versa. OKKO filling station network broke this vicious circle, creating a complete infrastructure for electric vehicles. In the future the OKKO network plans to increase the number electric charging stations. "The principle of our network is to keep one step ahead of the market. We do not hesitate to invest in promising innovative projects, because they are not only beneficial to our customers, but also enhance the overall quality of life in Ukraine ", said Oleksander Hehedysh.

On 12 October, 2012, the first electric charging station in Ukraine was opened at OKKO filling station in Kyiv. In that time, the project was seen as a pilot one in the company, now the company approached the problem systematically. New electric charging stations are located on the highways "Kyiv-Chop", "Kyiv-Kharkiv", "Kyiv-Odesa", "Kyiv-Dnipropetrovsk", "Rivne-Lublin", "Lviv-Przemysl", so you can recharge on the road, traveling at any direction. To create maximum comfort for customers, electric chargers are installed on OKKO filling station with A la minute, Pasta Mia branded restaurants or Hot cafe of a large format. While charging a car - the driver will have time to relax over a delicious meal or a cup of fragrant coffee.

Electric vehicles of all brands can be charged at OKKO filling stations. Although KEBA P20 charging station has a Type 2charging connector that is designed for model Tesla, Renault Zoe, Porshe Panamera, i Mercedes, BMW i3), but with Type 1 cable adapter, Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, Mitsubishi iMEV and Renault Fluence can also be recharged.

KEBA P20 charging station has the power of 22 kilowatt per hour. The time of electric vehicle charging depends on the electric vehicle model. For example, electric car Tesla Model S needs an hour to recharge for another 150-200 kilometers to run. Other electric vehicles, like Nissan Leaf, have less charging power and can recharge only in 6.6 kW per hour mode, so the charging rate is slightly lower.

Now, according to market operators, there are about a hundred of cars in Ukraine that can be powered by electricity, considering also 'hybrid' cars that are able to refuel by conventional fuel and electricity. Several owners of such electric vehicles took part in the presentation of OKKO electric charging station network on 23 December. Among them were Nazar Shymone-Davyda, the organizer of Tesla Motors Club Ukraine, and Dmitry Borisov, famous Kyiv restaurateur. They talked about their impressions of the trip held on 22 December by electric cars between Lviv and Kyiv with a stop at OKKO filling station, innovative and environmental benefits of such vehicles and shared their predictions on the electric vehicles market in Ukraine.

"Electric vehicles are better than cars working on liquid fuel for its technological parameters, so there are more and more of the first on European roads and even in Ukraine. The revolution in moving from car to electric ones reminds of a victory over wired phones or digital equipment over analog. And it will happen sooner than we imagined before, ", says Nazar Shymone-Davyda.