Lithuanian Airports to install 170 electric car charging points in airport car parks

Lithuanian Airports to install electric cars charging spots at their airports

Over the next few years, 170 charging points for electric vehicles will be installed at Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga airports as part of Lithuanian Airport‘s commitment to sustainability. This is one of the requirements included in the international tender for the operator of the parking lots currently being launched by Lithuanian Airports. The aim is to provide more convenience for drivers of electric cars travelling by air.

“There are currently more than 8,000 purely electric cars in Lithuania, a number that has tripled in the last two years, and the trends continue to show a rapid expansion in our country. Electric cars are no longer the future, but the present, which is why we aim to promote sustainable mobility and are working to ensure that their drivers can conveniently use public charging stations at any airport, no matter where they are coming from,” says Gintarė Norvilaitė-Tautevičė, Director of the Commercial Department at Lithuanian Airports.

Medium and fast charging stations will be Installed

The largest number of charging points (90) will be located in Vilnius Airport’s short-and long-term car parks. 42 of these will be in the short-term car park directly in front of the new departures terminal, which will open in 2025. There will also be eight fast charging points (at least 75 kW), so that EV drivers can top up their vehicle’s battery in the meantime when they arrive to meet or see off their loved ones. All other charging points will have 22 kW sockets, allowing an EV to be fully charged in around three to five hours, depending on the model and battery capacity.

At Kaunas Airport, 54 charging points will be available for electric vehicles, eight of which will be fast chargers (75 kW), the latter to be located in the car park directly opposite the passenger terminal. The remaining locations will be medium charging (22 kW).

A further 30 EV charging points, including two fast chargers (75 kW), are planned for Palanga Airport.

This will bring the total number of public EV charging points at the three airports to 170. Currently, there are 18 charging points for electric vehicles in parking lots managed by Lithuanian airports, including four in Vilnius and another 14 in Kaunas.

“As foreseen in the terms of the international tender, the charging stations will have to be installed by the new operator in cooperation with Lithuanian airports. We have already prepared the preliminary number and layout of charging points for electric vehicles, taking into account the needs of travellers using cars to reach the airports and the planned infrastructure development projects at the airports. In addition, all charging stations will be public, so they will be available not only to airport customers, but also to other drivers,” said G. Norvilaitė-Tautevičė.

Looking for a reliable long-term partner

Lithuanian Airports announced the selection of an international parking lot operator at the end of March. The tender conditions foresee that the new operator will manage more than 3,300 parking spaces (existing and planned) at three airports – Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga. One of the key objectives of the tender is to entrust the parking lots to an experienced operator that will ensure the quality of parking services provided to passengers and partners at all airports.

The deadline for applications is June of this year. The successful bidder is expected to be announced in the middle of this year (June-July) and to take over the management of the parking spaces in the second half of the year. The contract period is up to 10 years.

Upon signing the contract, the new operator will undertake to implement the necessary technologies for the quality management of the parking spaces, to properly adapt the existing airport infrastructure for use, to install charging stations for electric cars, and to ensure full maintenance and security of the infrastructure in the area of the car parks. In addition, the operator undertakes to provide quality customer service and a call centre. The new operator will also be responsible for parking marketing projects.