EDP Comercial is going to install 34 EV charging stations on motorways across the country, thus providing drivers who want to move around the country and outside major cities with faster, state-of-the-art solutions.

These charging stations are part of a partnership with Brisa, BP and Repsol, and will be installed at service areas operated by those oil companies: 10 charging station will be available at BP service areas on motorways A1 - Autoestrada do Norte and A2 - Autoestrada do Sul, while 24 others will be installed at Repsol service areas on motorways A1, A2, A4 - Autoestrada de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, A6 - Autoestrada Marateca-Caia, and A9 - Circular Regional Exterior de Lisboa. Each service area will offer a fast and an ultra-fast charging station; the latter charges 80% of an electric car battery in about 15 minutes, which reduces stop-times substantially. 

This is a very important step for ensuring capillarity and uniformity in the charging experience of EDP Comercial EV customers, which will now have further charging options in addition to the various home and office charging solutions offered by the company.

These charging stations are also part of Brisa's new electric mobility strategy for Portuguese motorways. This concept brings together the major players in the sector, in a collective effort for the evolution of public charging in Portugal, and will be a key move for the country's decarbonization process. EDP Comercial is planning to open this partnership's first ultra-fast charging station early next year. This network will be an additional incentive for the use of electric vehicles when traveling outside urban areas, which will accelerate the reduction of CO2 emissions on motorways across the country.

This infrastructure will be connected to the public electric mobility network, and users will be able to access it by using the EDP Electric Mobility card or that of any other operator. 

With the announcement of this partnership, EDP is taking another important step toward the goal of developing 700 charging stations by the end of 2020.  This will be an active partnership that will also monitor the evolution of the electric vehicle market in Portugal.

"To make sure that the evolution of electric vehicles on Portuguese roads continues on a positive path, EDP Comercial will continue to invest in the development of more and better charging solutions for Portuguese customers. Partnerships like this offer capillarity outside urban areas, giving Portuguese customers the necessary predictability for the decision to drive an electric car. The future of electric mobility in Portugal depends on collaboration and joint efforts between partners," says EDP Comercial Chairwoman Vera Pinto Pereira.

"BP wants to be an active agent for the changes that are necessary to make our planet more sustainable, so we seek to be more and more eco-efficient, and, with regard to mobility, we have a development strategy which we will be able to translate into this project," says BP Portugal Chairman Pedro Oliveira.

"As charging station leaders in the Iberian Peninsula, we could not waive this synergy, which mirrors our pioneering vision," says Repsol Portugal Managing Director Armando Oliveira.

Electric mobility is a strategic mainstay for EDP Comercial, which has been striving to lead the growth of this market by offering individual and business customers more and more private and public charging solutions.

As far as the public network is concerned, EDP Comercial boasts a market share of more than 50% through the EDP Electric Mobility card, with over 23,000 cards issued and more than 110,000 charges in the public charging infrastructure. These figures mean that more than 1300 MWh have been charged and over 975 metric tons of CO2 have been avoided. One of the company's main objectives for 2021 is to have 1,000 EV charging stations connected to the public network across the country.

List of charging stations at BP service areas:
•    A1 - Santarém North/South
•    A1 - Santarém South/North
•    A1 - Mealhada North/South
•    A1 - Mealhada South/North
•    A2 - Seixal North/South

List of charging stations at Repsol service areas:
•    A1 - Gaia North/South
•    A1 - Gaia South/North
•    A1 - Antuã North/South
•    A1 - Antuã South/North
•    A2 - Grândola North/South
•    A2 - Grândola South/North
•    A4 - Penafiel East/West
•    A4 - Penafiel West/East
•    A6 - Vendas Novas North/South
•    A6 - Vendas Novas South/North
•    A9 - Loures North/South
•    A9 - Loures South/North