Iran's heavy infrastructure giant MAPNA Group opened the country's first electric vehicle charging station at Tehran's iconic Milad Tower last Wednesday, Financial Tribune reports.
Built over 700 square meters, the station in the northwest of the capital includes a 43-kilovolt alternating current (AC) charger plus a fast charger working under the Chademo Protocol, a trade name of a quick charging method for electric vehicles which suits Japanese and Korean EVs such as KIA, Nissan, and Mitsubishi, IRNA reported.
The station also includes a 4.7-kv slow charger as well as a 5.5-kv charger, which can be used by electric motorcycles, Abbas Aliabadi the managing director of MAPNA said at the inauguration ceremony attended by Tehran Mayor Pirouz Hanachi.
"Depending on battery size, it takes 10 minutes to charge a vehicle on average, for which motorists pay 7 cents," he said, noting that once fully charged a car can cruise for 100 kilometers.
Covering the same distance with gasoline-powered cars costs 10 times more at 70 cents.
The MANPNA boss expressed his company's readiness to collaborate with car manufacturers and Tehran Taxi Organization to upgrade the ramshackle transport system with the help of new EV technology, the paper said.
“Installed power capacity has reached 81,000 megawatts and it is high time to invest in EVs," he added, urging local carmakers to pay more attention to EVs (instead of their own profits).
Despite their increasing popularity worldwide, EVs are still a novel concept in Iran’s huge car market.