Free e-vehicle charging points in Nicosia

The promotion in Cyprus of electric vehicle charging infrastructure will create the green and sustainable cities and communities of tomorrow, the island’s Minister of Transport, Communications and Works Yiannis Karousos said in a speech during the presentation of public e-point charging stations in the municipality of Nicosia, at the opening of a station at the junction of Stasandrou and Ayias Elenis street.

The installation of free vehicle charging stations in public places in the Cypriot capital is an initiative of the Pilakoutas Group and Troodos Electric Cables Ltd, with the support of the municipality.

Karousos stated that the ministry attaches great importance to the construction of such projects, regardless of who implements them, as they aim to implement the environmental obligations of the Republic of Cyprus to reduce emissions of gaseous pollutants and to achieve the new European energy and climate targets.

He added that weaning transport off fossil fuels is one of the ministry’s biggest challenges, with the first objective being the substantial development of electrification on the island. The promotion of electric mobility, he said, is a complex project and, in this direction, the ministry adopted a general policy framework which includes the strategic objectives, the necessary actions to establish the relevant legislative framework and the definition of the necessary organizational structure, as well as the measures to be taken to achieve the objectives that will bring about the common benefit. He also noted that in this general policy framework, the responsibilities and actions per agency and ministry are defined.

In addition, Karousos said the ministry, in its effort to promote charging infrastructure, due to the limited interest at this stage in the development of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations by the private sector, included additional investments in the Recovery and Resilience Plan.

The minister’s address was delivered by the acting permanent secretary of the ministry, Yiannis Nicolaides.

Nicosia Mayor Constantinos Yiorkadjis stated that “our vision is a cleaner, more sustainable city for the benefit of everyone, as well as future generations. This means we need to minimize the city’s ecological footprint by reducing pollution from cars.”