Central gets the charge

The first department store in Thailand to offer EV stations to customers two years ago, the project is part of the mall’s “Central…Love the Earth” initiative for sustainable living and environmental protection. With innovative technology from Germany, the EV station chargers fit all types of electric vehicles, provide fast and safe charging, and are fully safety certified. Twenty stations are available to meet the increasing use of electric vehicles at no charge.
Tapida Norpanlob, Omni-channel Merchandising Director of Central Department Store said: “We recently replaced our existing electric chargers, with a new higher technology set that caters to both hybrid (PHEV) and battery electric cars (BEV) from any car manufacturer. By installing 20 charging stations in total, 12 in Central Chidlom and eight in Central Embassy, we are making sure that we are offering the best in services to our customers as they become greener in their travel choices. The staff at each station can facilitate the use of the systems and ensure that any questions are answered. At Central Embassy alone, we have seen increasing use to about 75 per cent, which is a very encouraging number.”
Peerapatr Sirichantaropart, managing director of Sharge Management, who provide the EV stations added, “The market in hybrid and battery electric cars has seen an impressive growth of 40 percent per year. We think that the customers of Central Department Store are leaders in regards to embracing new technologies, and we’ve seen that the number of EV users at Central is 1.3 percent, compared to a national average of 0.0005%. We offer EV stations that are looking to future use as well, with our power output at 22 kW, even though hybrids at the moment require approximately 4 kW. With the average customer spending two hours in-store, that allows re-charging to at least 50 percent power levels, so it is a substantial amount to charge. We make sure that this service is free to encourage as many customers to use the stations as possible, reducing exhaust emissions and increasing the living quality of the city.”
Perrapatr also highlighted three advantages for the use of EV. 
- Better for the local & global environment: EV have zero exhaust emissions, so this will lead to a drop in the amount of harmful pollutants in the air that we breathe. They can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars by up to 50 per cent, which is a significant help in reducing these harmful gases in the atmosphere.
- Cost Saving:     The running costs of the EV are lower than conventional petrol & diesel cars at Bt2-4/km.
- Cheaper Maintenance: With less moving parts than conventional vehicles, the costs of maintenance will obviously be less.