First electric car charger stations in Tbilisi
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, November 7
People who drive electric cars in Georgia will now be able to charge the batteries of their vehicles for free until 2018, as two charging stations have opened in capital Tbilisi.
One station is located in the city’s Vake district, at the turning to Turtle Lake, and the other is at the Europe Square in central Tbilisi.
The electric car charger stations were installed by the E-Space company with the support of the Mayor’s Office of Tbilisi, which allocated the charging stations for free and will also cover all electricity charges.
Deputy Mayor of Tbilisi Irakli Lekvinadze said City Hall supported the popularization of electric cars and also was holding talks with the CT Park parking regulatory company in order to establish free parking for eco-friendly vehicles.
“We welcome such initiatives because the future of Tbilisi is in a better environment…around 100 such stations will be installed throughout the country in the future,” said Lekvinadze, and noted that Georgia is on the list of countries where the import of electric cars is free of charge.
Moreover, Director General of E-Space Sulkhan Gvalia noted that around 25 charging points would be installed until the end of 2016.
“The stations can charge cars in around two hours…charging will be free in 2017 too. I want to thank the Mayor’s Office for their full support,” Gvalia said.
The initiators hoped that this project would encourage more imports of electric cars over petrol-powered vehicles in the future.
Europe is the leader in using electric cars this year, followed by the United States and China. Norway is the top country, which replaced 22.39% of its vehicles with electric cars last year.
