“Hundreds of electric taxis visit Helsinki Airport every day, and the number is growing. We are pleased that, in cooperation with Plugit, we will be able to offer taxis operating at the airport their own charging area in a central location. We believe that the new charging station will be well received,” says Jukka Isomäki, Finavia’s Head of Parking and Landside Traffic at Helsinki Airport.
The total power of the charging station is considerable, about four megawatts, which allows vehicles to receive at least 90 kW of charging power, even if all charging points are in use at the same time. In its press release, Plugit states that by 5 p.m. on the opening day – i.e. Monday, 15 January 2024 – 28 taxis had already charged their batteries in the area. During that time, a total of 870 kWh was used to charge vehicles.
Taxis need their own charging area
The new charging area serves taxis throughout the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, offering a unique opportunity for taxi drivers and taxi service operators. Taxi companies operating with electric vehicles have wanted for a long time a dedicated charging area for commercial transport, where power does not run out. The station is an investment by Plugit, and the company is also responsible for the continuous operation of the station. The station was implemented with Plugit HUBE high-power charging equipment, which is specifically designed for implementations that require reliability and high power.
The new area with 40 charging points will also shorten charging queues in nearby areas, as taxis will be able to focus their charging on Helsinki Airport instead of having to use public charging points open to all motorists.
The largest and busiest taxi charging area in Finland creates the conditions for the growth of electric transport
You can charge your vehicle by registering to the Plugit APP charging app, and you can also order a charging ID, i.e. a tag, through the app.
“The electrification of the taxi fleet, combined with the significant passenger volumes of airport taxi traffic, requires an efficient charging infrastructure located in the local area. Based on its power, location and number of charging points, the Plugit solution is ideally suited for serving commercial transport at the airport,” says Jarkko Martelius, Managing Director of Taxi Point Oy, which is responsible for airport taxi logistics.
The power planning of the system means the station can later be extended to support the charging of up to 100 taxis simultaneously.
“Thanks to the size of the area and the dynamic distribution of the total power, we can guarantee that there will be enough power for everyone. When planning drives, you can safely assume that there will be no need to queue for a charging point and no need to wait unnecessarily due to slow charging. Later, we will introduce a booking system and expand the charging area as needed. In addition, we will take electric buses into account in the future,” says Tuomas Mäkelä from Plugit.
