The first so-called supercharger – a powerful charging station for electric vehicles that is capable of operating on both alternating and direct current – has opened at 5, Nauki Avenue, in Kyiv. According to electrocars.com.ua, this is the first such station in Ukraine.
It supports all the three most common charging standards: the Japanese, European, and American. Accordingly, a Nissan Leaf, a Tesla, and a BMW i3 can be charged there. It will take only 30 minutes to charge the first of these car models, as opposed to 6-8 hours when plugged into a conventional wall socket and 3 hours if a Type II charger is used.
The operator of the supercharger, the Oxygen company, opened it at its car dealership. According to informal information, it plans to create a network of such stations, and the first long-distance highway on which they will appear is the Kyiv-Lviv highway.
According to market participants, Oxygen has already imported about 100 Nissan Leaf vehicles for sale. In addition, the dealership sells the Tesla Model S and BMW i3 vehicles. It is also considering the possibility of launching a taxi service under its own brand name.
Until now, there were about 150 charging stations for electric vehicles in Ukraine, but none of them offered a supercharger. The Tesla company has announced plans to open two fast charging stations for electric vehicles in Ukraine – on the Kyiv-Lviv highway – before the end of 2016.
