Charge your car while you shop

KESKO PRESS RELEASE 09.12.2015                                                                                  1(1)

Soon the owners of electric or hybrid cars can charge their vehicles while shopping at a K-store. The first electric vehicle charging points will be opened by the end of this year in Turku, the Greater Helsinki area and Lahti. Charging will be activated using a contactless K-Plussa card and it is offered free to customers.

The first charging points will be available at the car parks of K-citymarket Tammisto in Vantaa, the Merituuli shopping centre in Espoo, K-citymarket Länsikeskus and K-citymarket Kupittaa in Turku, and the Karisma shopping centre in Lahti, each with four charging bays.

" We want to offer good service and help our customer make choices for the benefit of the environment. The K-Group is engaged in long-term responsibility work, in which one of the key themes is the mitigation of climate change and the reduction of emissions", says Matti Kalervo, Kesko's Vice President for Corporate Responsibility.

Kesko's responsibility work has received also international recognition; in November 2015, Kesko was selected to the globally established Climate A list of CDP, which consists of 113 leading companies considered to be operating in an exemplary manner in the mitigation of climate change.

A distance of 100 kilometres from one hour

It will be possible and safe to charge all types of rechargeable vehicles at the charging points to be made available at the K-store car parks. The charger will have a Type 2 socket, suitable for Mode 3 charging, in which your charging lead is plugged.

"The recharging times of vehicles vary slightly, which is due to their different charging capacities. The chargers' maximum charging rate is 3 x 32A, which means that at best, a travel distance of nearly 100 kilometres is possible from a one-hour charge", says Engineering Manager Jari Suuronen.

Kesko is having charging points for rechargeable vehicles built at its most significant store sites. The charging points will have clear signs to make them easily identified in the car park. In addition, a reservation for a charging point is made, or a charging point is built, in all new and rebuilding store site projects.

Kesko's partner in the charging system implementation is Plugit Finland Oy.

Further information:
Charging point project, Jari Suuronen, Manager, Engineering, tel.+358 105 322 271

The 45,000 exceptionally nice people of the K-Group work daily to make shopping fun for customers in our stores in the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and Russia. We help our more than 1,500 stores serve their customers in the grocery trade, the home improvement and speciality goods trade, and the car trade. We do our work with big heart while paying attention to society and the environment. We are already the most responsible food retailer in the world and are constantly trying out something new. We are doing this to provide good choices both on the shelves of the local stores and online. www.kesko.fi