Vinci Autoroutes announces the opening of charging stations in the heart of the Val de Loire region. These are the largest installed on highways in France.
It is not common to talk about very high powers when we approach the opening of a new charging station. Apart from Ionity, Tesla, Fastned, or Electra, few operators mainly focus on high power for obvious reasons of costs and profitability: installing stations with multiple 250 or 300 kW terminals often requires the implementation of a specific transformer and expensive infrastructure since the terminals are often far from medium and high voltage networks. In this regard, the operator Zunder has just announced the opening of three stations in the Center Val de Loire region, two of which would be among the largest in France.
Dozens of ultra-fast terminals!
The three stations are located on highways leading to or from the Paris region. But while one could have imagined such installations on the A7 towards the South of France, this is not the case. Here are the locations of Zunder’s new stations, a partner of Vinci Autoroutes:
Val-de-Cher area (Indre-et-Loire): accessible from the A85 highway in both directions, the station offers 25 charging points with CCS connectors (maximum power of 400 kW), as well as 2 other CCS connectors (maximum power of 50 kW), 2 CHAdeMO (maximum power of 50 kW), 2 Type 2 (maximum power of 43 kW), and 8 Type 2 (maximum power of 22 kW), all protected by photovoltaic canopies.
Sarthe-Touraine area (Sarthe): accessible from the A28 highway in both directions, the station has 2 200 kW CCS recharge points, and 2 Type 2 connectors with a maximum power of 22 kW.
Bourges-Marmagne area (Cher): located on the A71, in the province-Paris direction, the station offers 25 charging points with CCS connectors (maximum power of 400 kW), 2 other CCS connectors (maximum power of 50 kW), 2 CHAdeMO (maximum power of 50 kW), and 2 Type 2 connectors (maximum power of 22 kW), all protected by photovoltaic canopies.
Yes, you read that right, 25 CCS terminals at 400 kW! It remains to be seen if the installations are capable of delivering enough power when all terminals are used at the same time. The main bottleneck will then be the main site power supply, which has likely been calibrated accordingly. It is worth mentioning that it will be possible to benefit from Plug&Charge and also to pay by credit card at the terminals.
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