Prague Invests in E-Mobility: New Street Lamps to Prepare Charging Infrastructure
Around 150 so-called “EV-ready” lamps are to be installed this year, enabling the easy expansion of charging stations in the future
Foto: Technologie Hlavního města Prahy, a.s
The City of Prague is continuing to expand charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The City Council has now approved investments in the modernisation of public lighting – a key component of e-mobility in the coming years.
At its meeting on Monday, the Prague City Council approved a project to renew public lighting as part of the e-mobility strategy. The measure is being carried out in cooperation with the municipal company Technologie hl. m. Prahy and has a volume of nearly CZK 100 million. Around 150 so-called “EV-ready” lamps are to be installed this year, enabling the easy expansion of charging stations in the future.
“This year, we are investing around CZK 100 million in the modernisation of public lighting as part of e-mobility. This will result in approximately 150 EV-ready lamps, which will enable the installation of charging points for electric vehicles in the future,” said Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure Michal Hroza.
The background is the expected significant increase in e-mobility in the Czech capital. According to a medium scenario of the charging infrastructure development plan, up to 180,000 electric vehicles could be on Prague’s streets by 2030. This would require around 4,500 charging stations.
The existing street lighting infrastructure plays a key role in this. As part of the renewal of the power grid, the lamps are being adapted to allow a direct power supply from the distribution network. This will make it possible to integrate future charging points without significant additional effort.
The project is being implemented jointly by the city, represented by Technologie hl. m. Prahy, and the energy distributor PREdistribuce. In addition to the expansion of charging infrastructure, synergies in the modernisation of the power and lighting network are also to be utilised.
The new EV-ready lamps are designed so that they can be equipped with charging facilities at a later stage without major technical or financial hurdles. The selection of locations is being made specifically where network infrastructure renewal is already planned – an approach that saves costs and accelerates expansion.
