QCOSTARICA – The honeymoon is over of owners of electric vehicles (EV) using the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) rapid chargers at no cost. As of November 26, ICE will start charging ¢150 colones per KW – plus the value added tax – per minute.
How will the chargers work?
Users must register to the ICE’s ¡ES ELECTRICO! at www.grupoice.com, who will receive a card and access to the app on mobile devices, both iOS and Android.
What are the benefits of the platform and how will it work?
The customer will know the availability of the chargers and the types of connectors to use, the location and the distance between them, and will also have access to their recharge history with details such as amounts, times, dates and time.
In the event of loss, the card can be blocked and request a new one or additional ones.
The app also allows the use to calculate the price of the service. Payment can be made by debit or credit card.
The first stage of this platform begins with 38 fast chargers installed by ICE in its concession area.
In the coming months, ICE plans to add chargers of its subsidiary, the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL), in addition to those installed by municipal companies, ESPH (Heredia) and JASEC (Cartago) and rural electrification cooperatives such as Coopealfaroruiz, Coopeguanacaste, Coopelesca and Coopesantos.
“We will form a single network of chargers under the same platform, and in this way, we will unite all the distributors,” explained Allan Benavides, president of the Chamber of Telecommunications and Energy Distribution Companies (CEDET).
