June 14 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Friday that it is making an equity investment of 15 million euro ($16.2 million) in Eldrive Holding, an electric vehicle charging (EVC) station operator controlled by Bulgarian investors, to support its EVC infrastructure expansion in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania.
By 2028, Eldrive plans to install 7,400 new EVC stations, adding to the 900 it already operates across the three countries, the EBRD said in a press release.
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EBRD's investment will be made alongside Eldrive's owner, clean energy and e-mobility investor Renalfa Solarpro Group, during the first phase of development. Additionally, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing the company with a 40 million euro venture debt facility.
"This is the EBRD’s first equity investment in a charging point operator (CPO) and we are pleased to support Eldrive’s expansion plans in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania. We hope this investment will pave the way for many other EV infrastructure investments across the region and help speed up the decarbonisation of the transport sector in Europe," EBRD director for infrastructure in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Sue Barrett, said.
In January, the EIB said that Eldrive Holding planned to invest some 146 million euro to install 4,376 new EVC stations in Romania, 1,530 in Bulgaria and 2,575 in Lithuania over the next three years. The initiative supports the EU’s commitment to decarbonisation, aligning with the EU Green Deal objective of having one million public EVC stations across the 27 member states by 2025 and three million by 2030.
Last month, Eldrive announced plans to build large EVC parks at its locations in Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania, with the first site already under construction in Lithuania.
Bulgarian-founded Austria-based Renalfa Solarpro Group, is currently developing solar and wind power projects with a total capacity of 3 GW in Bulgaria, Hungary, North Macedonia, Poland and Romania.
($ = 0.9273 euro)