Discount Retail Chain Biedronka (owned by Portuguese Jeronimo Martins) entry into the world of electromobility, every corner of the country will have access to fast chargers for electric and hybrid cars. By the end of next year, they will appear in 600 locations at Biedronka stores in both large agglomerations and smaller cities, and each device will be able to charge up to three cars at the same time. Thus, 1,800 charging points will be created, which will be operated by Powerdot. The first stations were launched in July this year, in Warsaw. Later this year, at least 150 such devices will be built at Biedronka stores.
The construction of the largest and widely available DC electric car charging system has no precedent in Poland, both in terms of scale and power of charging stations. Thanks to the cooperation between Biedronka and Powerdot, which is responsible for the installation of the devices, the existing fast charging infrastructure in Poland, with a capacity exceeding 100 kW, will triple. Charging stations will be placed in car parks of stores in both large cities and small towns, providing wide access to the new service throughout the country.
Each station available at selected Biedronka stores will have a power of 120 kW, which in practice will mean the possibility of quick and comfortable charging of an electrician (with a battery with a capacity of 50 kWh) in about 20-30 minutes, adequate to the duration of shopping in a nearby Biedronka store. After such an operation, it will be possible to drive an exemplary electric car about 200 km.
The network of chargers at Biedronki will be located throughout the country in such a way that the movement of electric vehicles on Polish roads will be possible, only using the car charging network at Biedronki throughout the country. This is another field where Biedronka is a pioneer in Poland, revolutionizing the nationwide electric charging network. Thanks to our scale and presence in every corner of the Polish, we will shine new bright spots on the Polish map of electromobility, not only in big cities.
The stations will have three connectors: CCS, ChaDemo and Type 2. Thanks to this solution, users will charge not only almost every electrician, but also a plug-in hybrid. Using devices located at Biedronka stores will not require creating an account, using the application or paying any subscription. Various forms of payment will be possible: a bank card through a built-in payment card terminal, a QR code without registration, as well as an RFiD card as part of roaming (thanks to which subscribers of other charging service providers will also be served).
In the construction of electric car charging stations, Biedronka cooperates with Powerdot, which is the investor (i.e. owner) of the stations, as well as their operator. It will also be responsible for their functioning from the side of energy sales, payment and software, and customers will have at their disposal a round-the-clock support center.
The aim of the project is to make charging infrastructure available to everyone, i.e. residents of both small and large towns, as well as to fill the market niche, which is the shortage of high-power chargers above 100 kW. The project is in line with the idea of "destination charging", i.e. charging the car while performing everyday duties.
The cooperation between Powerdot and Biedronka, covering the launch of 600 stations by the end of 2024, is the largest program of this type in Europe, created by a commercial network and a charging station operator. The first two stations were launched in Warsaw.
