Motoring | Helsinki is attracting city dwellers to electric cars by increasing charging points

Helsinki wants 600 new public electric car charging points in Helsinki by 2030.

There are currently around 250 charging points in the streets and public areas in Helsinki. There are just under 2,000 public charging points in total.

Promoting electric cars is one of the means by which Helsinki strives to achieve its climate goal. The city of Helsinki aims to be carbon neutral in six years.

Nowadays the vast majority of charging points are on residential lots and business lots, and these charging points are not accessible to everyone.

The procurement of new charging points will start already this year. The first batch of approximately 150 charging points will be tendered, and these will begin to be implemented during the next year.

Town’s public charging infrastructure in public places facilitates the transition of city dwellers to rechargeable vehicles.

According to an estimate commissioned by the City of Helsinki, in 2030, 33 percent of city residents’ cars and vans would be fully electric and 11 percent would be plug-in hybrids.

Currently, fully electric cars account for approximately 15 percent of all vehicles and hybrids nine percent. In Helsinki, traffic is becoming electrified faster than in the rest of the country.

Electric cars adding charging infrastructure will be discussed at the Helsinki City Environment Committee on Tuesday.