Korean car firm Kia has strengthened its Kia Charge public charging service after adding further renewable energy sources to power its charging stations.
Kia currently works alongside Ionity to offer drivers of its cars access to its charging service on UK and European motorways - and has now pledged to ensure all power used for it is 'green'.
Through Kia Charge, the car maker will determine the amount of energy used by European customers to charge their electric vehicles, and then purchase the equivalent number of megawatts through Guarantee of Origin certificates. The energy used to power the charging stations will come from wind power.
Kia launched its charging network last year and has more than 20,000 charging points across the UK, which accounts for 69% of the charging network. This includes around 2,500 fast chargers, which account for two-thirds of Kia Charge users’ charging activity in the UK.
There are 23 UK charging networks included in the Kia Charge scheme, including BP Pulse, Ionity, Pod Point, Source London, Instavolt, Shell NewMotion, Osprey, Char.gy, and ESB.
Kia says that in the last 12 months it has supplied more than 264 MWh of charging to UK users.
“By pushing more green energy into the grid, we can increase the energy mix in favour of more sustainable sources,” said Kia Europe president Jason Jeong.
“In time, we hope to be part of a wider network that can work directly with renewable energy suppliers that offer customers 100 per cent green charging facilities. However, until there is absolutely no grey energy on the grid, this latest action is a firm step in the right direction."
Kia hopes its investment in renewable energy will help the brand shift to a fully electric passenger line-up in Europe by 2035.
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