Slovenian energy and railway companies, Petrol and Slovenske železnice have commissioned the inaugural electric vehicle (EV) charging park in Ljubljana, Slovenia with 7 e-chargers capable of simultaneously charging 14 EVs (15 June).
The charging park, located next to the city’s main railway station, has two fast (50 kilowatts) and five 22 kilowatts (kW) charging stations. The site is designed for future expansion, allowing for an additional six 22 kW charging stations and 12 more charging or parking spaces, Petrol said.
This new EV charging point marks the first joint venture project between Petrol and Slovenske železnice in Slovenia.
The inauguration of the charging park also marks the successful completion of the URBAN-E project, co-financed under the Connecting Europe Facility by the European Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure and the Environment (CINEA), which manages the European Commission’s programs for decarbonisation and sustainable growth.
The URBAN-E project brings together three municipalities from Slovenia (Ljubljana), Croatia (Zagreb) and Slovakia (Bratislava) with companies experienced in EV charging infrastructure from the region (Petrol and Západoslovenská energetika). It also involves a railway company (Slovenske železnice) and innovative B2C and B2B transport service operators to establish a strategic partnership for green urban transport.
The project primarily aims to promote e-mobility, intermodal travel, and green transport services in urban hubs connected to the core network, thereby contributing to the implementation of the European Strategy for Alternative Fuels, Petrol said.
The URBAN-E project spanned from March 2017 to December 2022 and included studies, pilot implementations, and testing in the central urban hubs of Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Bratislava. It involved exploring urban green transport between Ljubljana and Zagreb, deploying parking sensors to test parking management options, and demonstrating smart charging practices. Throughout the project, a network of 167 charging stations was established, consisting of 144 regular (up to 22 kW) AC chargers and 23 AC/DC fast chargers.
Within the Petrol Group, the URBAN-E project led to the installation of 112 filling stations: 47 slow and 9 fast stations in Ljubljana, and 47 slow and 9 fast stations in Zagreb, the company said.
