Iran’s ministry of industry (MIMT) has launched 15 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the capital Tehran as part of a rapid process to electrify transport in the city.
The charging stations were opened on Monday in a ceremony attended by authorities from MIMT and the Tehran Municipality.
A contractor from Iran’s energy engineering company MAPNA said the new EV charging stations had been constructed and equipped in only 24 days and after the MIMT and Tehran’s Municipality signed a contract to electrify inner-city transport in the metropolis.
Mousa Rafan said the charging stations have been equipped with 44 fast-charge ports and 50 alternating current (AC) chargers.
Raffan said a further expansion of the EV charging station network in Tehran would require more support from Iran’s Energy Ministry.
The launch of the charging stations comes amid a campaign by the MIMT to expedite the electrification of the transport systems in Iran.
The ministry has signed a contract with Tehran’s municipality to add some 50,000 electric cars and another 200,000 electric motorcycles to the city’s transportation network by the end of the current calendar year in March 2024.
Iran’s industry minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Monday that Iranian automotive companies had accelerated their plans to manufacture electric cars.
Aliabadi said, however, that the country would not wait for a scale-up in domestic manufacturing of EVs, adding that imports would also increase to respond to growing demand for such vehicles in the country.
He said Iran’s energy sector stands to benefit from the expansion of EV infrastructure, adding that using EV’s would also be very economical for the Iranian motorists.