- With the increasing population of fully electric and hybrid vehicles comes the demand for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations.
- Cognizant of this challenge, Kenya Power said it has two EV charging stations in Nairobi for use by motorists at no cost.
Image: KENYA POWER
The craze to acquire electric vehicles is spreading like wildfire the world over as governments accelerate efforts to combat climate change.
The global Electric Vehicle Outlook 2024 indicates that Kenya is among the countries whose uptake of electric vehicles is rising.
But with the increasing population of fully electric and hybrid vehicles comes the demand for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations, which in Kenya’s case, are quite limited.
Cognizant of this challenge, Kenya Power set up two EV charging stations in Nairobi for use by motorists at no cost.
In a statement on Wednesday, the utility company said one of the stations is located at Stima Plaza in Parklands while the second is at the Company’s depot in Ruaraka.
“However, you will be required to obtain an RFID (radio-frequency identification) card from the Kenya Power security desk at any of the two charging locations to enable you to access the charging facility,” Kenya Power said.
The company said the availability of the stations can help motorists with hybrid vehicles cut travel costs by combining zero-emission electric driving with petrol power for longer distances.
Kenya Power gave a case study of one motorist who said his car can comfortably do 100 km on battery power alone before switching to a petrol engine for the rest of the journey.
“When he gets to the nearest charging station, he connects the Outlander’s 12 kWh battery to a DC fast charger, where he gets over 80 per cent charge in just under 40 minutes,” the company said.
KPLC announced in April that it set up the charging station at a cost of Sh6.5 million.
It said it comprises two chargers: a 50 kW DC (1 hour charging time) and a 22 kW AC (2 hour charging time) charger.
Managing director and CEO Joseph Siror said during the launch that the company plans to inject Sh258 million towards advancing e-mobility in the country.
THis, he said, includes investing in charging infrastructure and acquiring electric vehicles and motorbikes for company use.
"As a company, we are very excited to be leading the conversations around E-mobility. Alongside our need to charge our electric vehicles, we intend to use our EV charging stations to collect data that will inform the next steps of our support to the growing E-mobility industry," Siror said.
He revealed that othern than the charging stations at the Ruaraka depot and Stima Plaza in Parklands, plans were underway to instal install charging stations at company offices across the country by the end of July 2024 at a cost of Sh20 million.
He said Donholm, Nakuru, Mombasa, Mtito Andei, Kisumu, Eldoret, Roysambu, electricity House Nairobi and Ragati offices would get a station each.
"Beyond the additional charging stations that we intend to put up in the current financial year, we intend to install 10 additional facilities annually in 2025 and 2026,” said Siror.