Espoon Asunnot contributing to the charging infrastructure for electric cars with cost-efficient measures

Espoon Asunnot is committed to the City of Espoo’s sustainable development goals. One of the ways in which Espoon Asunnot is promoting sustainability is by offering its tenants the possibility of charging electric cars. The charging system is installed into the block heater pole of a parking space. Converting a block heater pole into a charging station in this manner does not require any major investments, deployment is quick and the conversion does not result in any costs for other tenants. The charging station can be used to charge over 100 km of range overnight, which is more than the average distance travelled by car in a day. The electricity used at Espoon Asunnot properties is EKOenergy-labelled bioenergy.

To find a suitable service provider for the charging service, Espoon Asunnot engaged in dialogue with various companies in the industry. The partner ultimately chosen to provide the service was eParking.fi, which offered a solution suitable for the needs of Espoon Asunnot’s tenants. Now, new charging stations are built based on tenants’ needs. Tenants can submit an order for a new charging station personally using eParking.fi’s order form, a link to which is available on Espoon Asunnot’s website. When the form is submitted, the order is also automatically submitted to an electrician and to the property manager. 

According to eParking.fi’s COO Antti Hiekkanen, the cooperation with Espoon Asunnot turned into a smooth and effortless partnership during the first few months. Both parties consider the clear division of labour, convenience and low workload to be the best parts of the partnership. Ordering a new charging station is also easy for tenants. Hiekkanen considers municipalities to be good partners for introducing new mobility solutions to the market and hopes that the City of Espoo will continue to provide opportunities to try out new solutions via various pilots projects, for example.

Building a carbon-neutral society requires bold thinking and new approaches. Espoo has the ability to take up this challenge. Join us in developing future solutions in Kera, Otaniemi and Kiviruukki! The Implementation Pathway for Environments that Accelerate Sustainable Growth KETO project boosts cooperation between businesses, schools and research organisations, and creates concrete development environments that promote the green transition and digitalisation. The project is run by the City of Espoo, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Aalto University and Omnia, together with several business partners. Project is funded by European Union’s REACT-EU ERDF and is part of the European Union’s response to the covid-19 pandemic.