Largest private electric charging network: partnership between Galp and IKEA

By the end of this year, Galp expects to have 5,000 electric vehicle charging points spread across Spain and Portugal, maintaining its goal of reaching 10,000 across the Iberian Peninsula by 2025. The partnership with IKEA, which plans to install 278 charging points, most of which are already operational in the brand's stores from north to south of the country, will create the largest private national charging network for electric cars.

Para Jorge Alegria, responsável pela área de Electric Mobility na Galp, este é mais um passo rumo à transição energética, que reflete igualmente o compromisso da empresa com a mobilidade elétrica e com a descarbonização. Recorde-se que o ano de 2022 terminou com um total de 1926 tomadas de carregamento na rua, das quais 1427 são de carregamento normal, 394 de carregamento rápido e 105 de ultrarrápido. 

A estratégia de mobilidade elétrica da Galp teve início há mais de uma década, em 2010, com um projeto piloto que ganhou asas com a transição para um regime de mercado em 2020. “A Galp está presente desde o início e começamos a assistir de forma consistente a um crescimento da procura deste tipo de tecnologia motivado por um aumento da sensibilização para as questões relacionadas com a transição energética”, conclui. 

Jorge Alegria, head of Electric Mobility at Galp

The partnership that Galp is now implementing with IKEA reflects, in the words of Teresa Abecasis, Commercial COO of the energy company, the brand's focus and commitment to sustainability and energy transition issues, more specifically to the decarbonisation of the land transport sector. ‘These partnerships are one of the pillars in the development of our public charging network, allowing us to be the largest operator nationwide at this moment,’ emphasises Jorge Alegria. 

The head of Electric Mobility at Galp highlights the availability of several options, from normal 7.4kW charging (more suited to plug-in hybrid vehicles) to 22kW charging (suited to 100% electric vehicles), as well as 60kW fast charging (suited to 100% electric vehicles with shorter stays). In total, says Jorge Alegria, ‘this project provides approximately 4GWh of charging power, allowing an average of 100km of range to be charged to 21 vehicles simultaneously per hour’. 

‘These partnerships are one of the pillars in the development of our public charging network, allowing us to be the largest operator nationwide at this time’. 

The path to energy transition supported by partnerships is not, however, a new topic at Galp. Since its oldest partnership with Sonae Sierra, which, as the head of electric mobility explains, ‘enabled the provision of charging solutions in its shopping centres while the Portuguese mobility market was still in its pilot phase,’ the energy company has more recently established several others in different sectors. Intermarché, Makro, Grupo Sana, Grupo Continental, and Grupo CUF are some examples that embody the brand's goal for electric mobility. ‘Maintaining and strengthening our position as a benchmark in this emerging market is our goal as we continue to offer the best and most efficient charging solutions,’ explains the Galp manager.