in 2024 “Ignitis ON: get to know Lithuania!” electric car competition innovation – efficient driving class | Business

It was planned that they will compete in 4 classes, into which the cars are divided according to the maximum driving distance specified by the manufacturer on one charge. Such rules have been in force for several years, but this year a new class will appear – the “Telia” class, in which the employees of this company will strive to overcome the competition distance as efficiently and economically as possible. Competition on June 7 starts in Vilnius on Gediminas Avenue near the Ministry of Transport. The participants will visit Panevėžys Road Maintenance company, visit Kražius and finish in Palanga.

As many as 5 Telia crews with Toyota and Cupra electric cars will take part in the competition. Two teams will drive the Toyota Proace City Electric and three the Cupra Born e-boost. The cars are very different, but they will be united by special rules. The Cupra crews will also participate in the overall competition, so they will try to cover the maximum possible distance on the day of the competition, while using more energy. Toyota will take the shortest routes to the intermediate finish locations and will have the opportunity to recharge during the rest of the teams at the intermediate finishes.

Telia has been looking into electric cars for a long time. Currently, they use 333 cars for their needs, of which 176 are electric cars. 115, these are Toyota Proace City Electric cargo vans used by engineering teams, 60 other employees’ Cupra Born and one Audi Q4 Etron. A few years ago, after starting radical changes in its fleet, the company became the largest company in Lithuania with its own fleet of electric cars and a network of charging stations. A total of 5.5 million was allocated to the transport electrification program. euros.

However, Telia does not promise to completely abandon gasoline or diesel-powered cars in the near future. Electric cars are not yet suitable for some functions. At the same time, they claim that the number of electric cars in the company will only increase, as the entire Telia group has set itself the goal of becoming completely climate neutral by 2030. in Lithuania since 2014. buys most of the electricity used in its activities only from renewable energy sources, and since 2019, green energy accounts for 100 percent of the company’s electricity consumption.

Telia recognizes that employees who drive electric cars have to plan longer trips a little more carefully, especially in winter. However, they charge cars in their offices and have a network of almost 150 charging stations throughout Lithuania. Of course, when going to remote places, you use the car charging services of other networks. It is predicted that fuel consumption will decrease by about 40 percent this year due to the use of electric cars. 165 thousand to drive this year alone. “electric kilometers” have already saved us 20 tons of fuel and 55 tons of CO2.

The company didn’t dive headfirst into the new mobility just for the sake of fashion. Vytautas Bučinskas, head of Telia’s business assurance, sustainability and resilience department, weighed all the pros and cons of electric cars and personally tested almost all electric cars sold on the Lithuanian market.

“I know very well how cold and environmental conditions affect the distance traveled, so we had to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who found 200 ‘cold’ kilometers too much of a challenge. One colleague, who transferred to Cupra Born on the very first day, traveled from Vilnius through Panevėžys and Šiauliai to Telšiai, and after arranging all the affairs and returning home (having driven a little more than 600 kilometers in total), he declared that he would not give the keys to anyone again. I have been taking care of the cars of this company for many years, but for the first time I received messages of thanks from colleagues who received new equipment.

By electrifying Telia’s fleet, it was possible to avoid compromises related to the so-called TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) indicators. After evaluating the purchase price, insurance, electricity costs, routine technical service, buyback conditions after 4 or 5 years and similar things, it turns out that the TCO indicator is essentially the same as when buying a car of similar size and configuration with a diesel engine. In total, Telia’s cars and electric cars drive about 7 million miles per year. km,” said V. Bučinskas to the organizers of the electric car competition.

Telia’s own network of charging stations already allows employees to charge independently of the public infrastructure for electric vehicles. However, despite the growing number of players in this market, there are still more worries about charging than one would like – even if the stations work, very often the declared charging speed is out of step with reality. In most cases, charging requires an app and a linked bank card. Any control over how much and which employee would load disappears. In addition, several bank cards in the name of the company or in the account with a higher limit would be needed. All this complicates and increases the costs of accounting administration.

The advantage is that Ignitis ON and Inbalance grid simply read the amount for the real charge, a detailed report is obtained with the kWh used by each user, the locations where the charge was made. In addition, it is a great advantage that the customer can pay according to the invoices provided for the actual consumption of the month.