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Taking into account the forecasts and international trends, there will be over 36,000 electric cars in Latvia by 2030. This year, Latvenergo will continue rapid development of public charging stations in accordance with the growing demand, and their number will therefore exceed 1000, Kaspars Cikmačs, Member of the Management Board of Latvenergo AS shared his projections at the conference “Clean Energy for Transport” today.

Although the number of electric cars in Latvia is not high, it keeps growing rapidly. In accordance with the data of the Road Traffic Safety Directorate, 442 electric passenger cars were registered at the beginning of 2019, while 658 electric cars or by 49% more were registered at the beginning of 2020. The trend is becoming increasingly more rapid, and similarly to the global trends, the fostering factors are that different models are available in the Latvian market of cars, the cars are becoming more affordable, the distance covered by them increases significantly, as well as the network of charging stations is extending.

According to the forecasts of Latvenergo, there might be over 10,000 electric cars in Latvia in 2025, and over 36,000 in 2030. The reason for the increase is the same as globally – rapid development of technologies and their greater availability and the creation of infrastructure, on the one hand, and conscious policy for introduction of electrical mobility to reduce CO₂ by 2050, on the other hand.

“When the number of electric cars and the number of charging points are growing at the same time, the development of electrical mobility in Latvia will happen faster than we think. Latvenergo considers the possibilities of electrical mobility not only as provider of new directions of strategic operations, but also as the largest producer and supplier of green energy. From this point of view, in 2030, home charging in Latvia might create a simultaneous increase in demand for capacity up to 200 MW per night, and up to 60 MW of public charging during the day. All of us would benefit from an environment without noise and air pollution outside the window,” Kaspars Cikmačs, the Member of the Management Board of Latvenergo AS says.

In order to ensure full charging possibilities, there will be at least 1000 public charging points in Latvia by 2025. Most of them will be part of the charging network of Latvenergo, which is extending its charging network this year not only in Riga, but also outside it. Also, taking into account that 75 – 80% of charging will take place at home or on private parking places, the Elektrum online store offers also home charging devices. 20 – 25% of charging will take place during the day in the public space. It is important for users that there is no need to change the daily timetable due to charging, therefore, they can charge in the places where they stop for longer periods of time.

“Today, electrical mobility changes not only the car market, it also changes the infrastructure of cities and habits of society, it grows along with other global trends. The electric car itself turned from an expensive, specifically designed vehicle covering about 100 km into an affordable, elegant and high-performance car which also demonstrates the lifestyle of its owner”, Kaspars Cikmačs sums up.