The EIB granted a loan for 1,530 charging stations for electric cars in Bulgaria

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €40 million loan to Austrian-registered Eldrive Holding to install 8,472 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania over the next three years, the EIB announced on its website. , reported BGNES.
The project supports clean mobility and the EU Green Deal objectives for sustainable transport and decarbonisation.
The agreement is part of the InvestEU programme, which aims to trigger more than €372 billion of additional investment between 2021 and 2027. InvestEU mobilizes investment for EU policy priorities such as the green transition, competitiveness, innovation and sustainable infrastructure.
With the financial support of InvestEU and the EIB, Eldrive Holding plans to invest around EUR 146 million to deploy 4,376 new EV charging stations in Romania, 2,575 in Lithuania and 1,530 in Bulgaria, accelerating the deployment of the infrastructure necessary for the development of clean transport in the three countries and support for the transition to climate neutrality.
The project will improve the low market penetration of electric vehicles and charging points in the three countries and help them meet the EU Green Deal target of having one million public EV chargers and alternative fuel stations spread across 27- those Member States by 2025. EV charging networks will support the transition to electric vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution in urban areas of Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania.
"This is a very important project," said EIB Vice President Kyriakos Kakouris. "The transport sector is one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The transition to e-mobility can help reduce them as well as air pollution. However, a real transition to electric vehicles cannot begin without the necessary infrastructure. As the EU's climate bank, the EIB supports new EV charging networks and I am very pleased that we will be part of the modernization of transport in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania," he stressed.
Eldrive Holding, controlled by Bulgarian investors, already manages over 1,200 charging points for electric cars in the three countries. Electric vehicle charging is one of the sectors eligible for additional support under the EIB's special initiative to support REPowerEU, the EU's plan to end Europe's dependence on fossil fuel imports. The EU Bank has committed an additional €45 billion in financing, in addition to its regular lending volumes, for REPowerEU-compliant projects.
"Securing the confidence of the EIB is an important milestone for "Eldrive". This is an important recognition of the sustainability of our business strategy, execution and growth achieved over the past few years. Having the EIB as a partner in this project will help us quickly and efficiently expand our network and become one of the leading charging point operators in Europe," said the company's executive director, Stefan Spasov. /BGNES