By 2022, 60 percent of passenger cars sold in Sweden will be chargeable cars. Simultaneously with the significant growth in the number of chargeable vehicles, it is also necessary to increase the pace of the expansion of charging infrastructure. Unicorn and possibly other Czech companies could be even more involved in this process.

Unicorn is also targeting other cities 

Since September last year in Gothenburg, Sweden, a platform from the Czech company Unicorn, which has delivered its ChargeUp cloud solution to Gothenburg Energi, has been used to manage the charging of the electric vehicles. Thanks to the ChargeUp platform from Unicorn, Gothenburg Energi has acquired a solution for the control and management of the public charging network, as well as other charging stations in the city. The ChargeUp cloud platform is an open system with the possibility of connecting additional charging points, which can be used to control not only the infrastructure, but also payments to customers, which can be further distributed to station owners. The comprehensive software service enabled the connection of approximately 1,500 public and private charging stations for electric cars, which are located in the city.

Unicorn's success is very valuable, as Gothenburg is considered the centre of electrification in Sweden, where industry, research, development and testing of next-generation sustainable transport solutions combine. Unicorn thus confirmed its role as one of the main players in the field of e-mobility infrastructure in Europe. “Smart and efficient charging of electric cars is a basic prerequisite for the massive development of electromobility. Thanks to our flexibility and experience with electromobility, we would like to offer our solutions to other Swedish cities as well,” says Jan Konrád, Chief Commercial Officer at Unicorn Systems. Unicorn has also been a successful supplier of energy IT solutions in Sweden for a long time.

Sweden among European leaders 

Sweden has one of the highest proportions of chargeable cars among EU countries. In 2021, chargeable cars accounted for 45 percent of new car registrations, a total of 135,302 chargeable cars. In 2022, according to the forecast of the Swedish Automobile Industry Association, the share of newly sold rechargeable cars on the Swedish market will reach 60%.

The trend is that electric cars in new sales are approaching plug-in hybrids, and it is expected that in 2022, electric cars will definitely outperform plug-in hybrids in sales. Following the significant growth in sales of rechargeable vehicles, it is also necessary to sharply increase the pace of building recharging infrastructure.

The building of chargers needs to be accelerated 

At the end of 2021, according to Powercircle statistics, there were just over 14,000 charging points in Sweden. Despite the fact that the expansion of charging stations in Sweden continues, Mattias Bergman, CEO of Bill Sweden  (Swedish industry organization for manufacturers and importers of cars, trucks and buses), calls for the pace of building new charging infrastructure to be stepped up. According to Bergman, in Sweden, essentially all brands now offer chargeable cars in all body models and price levels. If the charging infrastructure is expanded at the same time as the model series of chargeable cars, this will remove the obstacles due to which many potential buyers of electric cars still hesitate. The Swedish government is trying to financially support the development of charging stations in less populated areas, but it is also important to streamline municipal licensing and cooperation with energy companies. This will speed up the process of obtaining permission to build new charging stations.

Martin Bašta, Deputy Head of Mission and Economic Diplomat, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Stockholm