AFP, published on Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 9:01 p.m.
France’s fastest electricity terminal, which promises to fully recharge a car in about twenty minutes, opened Thursday near Vernon, along the A13 motorway between Paris and the Normandy coast.
It is the first charging station inaugurated by Kallista Energy, a subsidiary of the Canadian group Boralex, which operates 36 wind farms in Europe. Kallista plans to eventually open a network of 90 stations under the “Yaway” brand, powered primarily by wind.
The Vernon-Douains station, which is not powered by the wind, offers two ultra-fast charging stations, which reach up to 360 kW, a power much higher than what even the best equipped vehicles, such as the Porsche Taycan or the Tesla, can accept. . 3.
This terminal, which is still being tested, will allow the next generation of cars to recover up to 100 kilometers of autonomy in less than three minutes, according to its designer, the Swedish-Swiss group ABB.
Copies of this model manufactured in Italy and called “Terra 360” are already operating in Germany with the oil company Shell and in Norway with the energy company Eviny.
The terminal shares its power among the cars that connect to it, up to four at a time. The load continues to cost 0.55 euros per minute but will soon be billed per kWh.
En route to Paris from the coast, an Audi SUV recharged there on Wednesday, going from 2 to 80% range in 32 minutes, owner Benoist Girard, 43, explained upon returning.
In a booming recharging market, with the proliferation of electric cars on the roads, Kallista uses electricity produced by wind turbines for “the majority” of its terminals.
This first Kallista Energy charging station is not powered by a wind turbine, as it is too close to an airbase.
But there are “a lot of synergies” between these trades, and the investment in the terminals is much lighter, Kallista CEO Johann Tardy said.
By linking renewable energy production and distribution, Kallista ultimately aims to offer attractive charging rates, Tardy said.
The Seine-Normandy conurbation has made this land available on the edge of the motorway and a stone’s throw from the future Hopium factory, which is committed to hydrogen cars.
Each charging point has also been financed with 18,000 euros by the Advenir public program, which since 2020 has focused on ultra-fast charging.