Thursday, December 15, 2022.- With the purpose of strengthening the fast charging infrastructure in the northern part of the country, Copec Voltex joins Albemarle, one of the largest lithium producers in the world, to incorporate a charging point at the service station located in the commune of San Pedro de Atacama.
This high-power charger will be able to supply a large part of the electric vehicles on the market, as well as charge a car to 80% of its battery in a range of forty minutes. In addition, it will increase the autonomy of electric transport on routes 27 and 23, mandatory access to tourist destinations in the Antofagasta Region.
The installation of electric chargers is an important contribution to advancing the energy transition needed to address the negative impacts of climate change. This is even more relevant, considering that in Chile the transport sector is responsible for more than 22% of total Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
"We are committed to the development and movement of people and the country, and in this sense, we will continue to develop solutions that allow electromobility to be expanded and reach every corner of the country. Today we are celebrating the first electric charger in San Pedro de Atacama, which allows us to break down one of the most important barriers to the expansion of sustainable mobility in Chile, which is to reach places with geographical diversity," said Andrea Castro, manager of General Copec Voltex.
For Ignacio Mehech, country manager and vice president of External Affairs of Albemarle Chile, "this important milestone is part of an action plan that we are promoting from the company, in order to move towards a sustainable development of our operations, promoting the value of communities and the importance of lithium for electromobility. Committed to the new era of lithium, we seek to achieve a fair energy transition, which is becoming increasingly urgent to achieve; so we are very happy to be able to contribute to making San Pedro an increasingly sustainable commune."
For his part, Julio Zuleta, mayor of San Pedro de Atacama, said that this is "a very relevant milestone for us. As a Municipality we have been very concerned about being able to aim for a commune of greater sustainability and this helps us tremendously to generate this first milestone that will be a window of access to other initiatives that arise from our commune. We are grateful for this alliance between Copec and Albemarle that make it possible for this technology to be advanced in time and for the electric vehicle charging connection to be installed here in San Pedro de Atacama."
The "Northern Route"
There are four electric chargers that are part of the "Northern Route", two of them are already in operation; the first, in Antofagasta and the second, is that of San Pedro de Atacama. The installation of the other two charging points at the service stations of Calama and Sierra Gorda will be completed soon.
Copec Voltex has already installed a network of 400 charging stations, including 35 fast charging chargers on the road, which allows traveling from Coquimbo to Temuco, linking more than 1,400 km of road, to which they will add more kilometers with the incorporation of the "Northern Route", in the Antofagasta Region.