Where and how to charge your electric car?

Facilitating the transition to electromobility as much as possible is one of the Luxembourg government’s main goals. The first public charging stations for electric vehicles were installed in 2017. Since then, the network has grown and is now complemented by ultra-fast charging stations. But where do these charging stations exclusively distribute electricity produced from 100% renewable energies and how to use them?

Chargy: for your everyday travel

The network of public charging stations for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, known under “Chargy”, has been operational since 2 June 2017. To date, the infrastructure includes more than 700 “Chargy” stations and “Chargy OK” compatible terminals, the latter being invested by third parties and accessible to the public. Soon, it will incorporate a total of 710 stations and 1,420 parking spaces dedicated to electric mobility, each terminal having two charging points (adjustable between 3.7 kW and 22 kW depending on the type of car).

To guarantee national network coverage, every municipality in the country will have at least one charging station. The total number of stations for each municipality will vary depending on the number of inhabitants and jobs. Out of the 102 municipalities in the country, the Chargy stations are already present in 101 of them and always installed near local points of interest, such as business parks, educational establishments, touristic, cultural or sporting attractions, shops, town halls or council offices.

To access all the charging stations of the Chargy network, you must have signed a contract with a charging service provider[1]. It will give you a mKaart from the transport organization Verkéiersbond, which will serve as an identifier on the terminals. If you already have a mKaart, your charging service provider will directly add the Chargy product. Your electricity consumption will be billed to you by your provider. If you have a prepaid card, it will be debited until all your credit has been used up. With the multifunctional mKaart, you can also load other transport-related products such as transport tickets (first class and cross-border) and access to mBox bike parks. You can find more information about mKaart on www.mobiliteit.lu site.

By connecting you to your account on the MyChargy platform from your computer, tablet or mobile device, you can monitor your consumption, find available charging stations, make a reservation or activate a notification when your vehicle's loading is complete.

SuperChargy: electromobility goes a step further

In addition to the Chargy terminals already in place, the installation of new SuperChargy stations, offering ultra-fast charging for 100% electric vehicles, started in 2021. Eleven public terminals are currently operational, four at the University of Luxembourg's Kirchberg campus car park, four at the Junglinster P+R and three SuperChargy OK charging stations. By 2023, some 88 SuperChargy direct current (DC) stations will be available at the main roads, motorway service areas and specific Park & Ride (P+R) car parks, corresponding to 19 locations strategically chosen in the country. A third of them will allow loads up to 160 kW (compared to 22 kW for Chargy stations) and the other two thirds will deliver up to 350 kW per socket depending on the site configuration and the capacities of each vehicle. With these terminals and cars making full use of these charging powers, it will take about 20 minutes to reload an empty battery to 80% of its capacity!

Equipped with their own visual identity, these ultra-fast charging stations use the same means of identification and payment as the Chargy terminals. If you don’t have a contract with a charging service provider, you can pay by credit or debit card for a fixed price displayed on the SuperChargy terminal screen. Recently, this ad hoc payment function is also available on Chargy charging stations, where a QR code will redirect you to the providers who offer this service.

You can consult the websites www.chargy.lu  and www.superchargy.lu for more information.

[1] You can find a non-exhaustive list of the charging service providers on the website www.chargy.lu.

02/2022

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