Officials from Kahramaa and Doha Festival City during the launch of first phase of its Electric Vehicle charging stations at the DFC mall.
Doha: Doha Festival City has announced the completion of the first phase of its electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in partnership with Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), represented in the National Program for Conservation and Energy Efficiency (Tarsheed).
The project, undertaken under the mall’s sustainability efforts and Tarsheed’s guidance and regulations, has seen the completion of 23 stations, which are now all operational.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Eng Rashid Al Rahimi, Manager of Conservation and Energy Efficiency Department from Kahramaa, and Jihad Zarkout, Assistant General Manager of BASREC, owner and operator of DFC mall, and Robert Hall, Doha Festival City’s General Manager, along with a number of managers and personnel.
The EV charging stations are now available for public use and can be found in 46 locations across the mall in the Lower Ground Floor, near Monoprix and Sacoor Brothers and on the first floor near the VIP valet area, Harvey Nichols, and VOX.
This step came in the context of the joint action Kahramaa, represented by Tarsheed, is leading in cooperation with different entities in Qatar to achieve environmental sustainability, and it is in line with Doha Festival City’s long commitment to promoting the use of clean energy and reducing the carbon footprint from visitor’s vehicles. The mall has further plans to install more charging stations in two phases in the coming two years to promote energy efficiency.
Commenting on the project, Eng. Rashid Al Rahimi, said: “The goal of these electric charging stations is to encourage people to use electric cars and to support the infrastructure enabling this transition to sustainable transportation, which will reduce carbon emissions, as the means of transportation in the world in general represent a large proportion of carbon emissions”.
Al Rahimi added that these efforts were in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and its commitment to preserving the environment in Qatar and the transition to sustainable transport. He also noted that Tarsheed had completed over 100 fast electric charging stations all over Qatar till end of 2022.
“Expansion of the network is expected to reach 250 EV charging stations by end of 2023.” he added.
Robert Hall, Doha Festival City’s General Manager, said: “As a sustainable mall, Doha Festival City continues improving its operations by following the latest international sustainability best practices and standards. We have a firm commitment towards the environment, and we consider the completion of projects that contribute toward reducing our environmental impact at the top of our priorities. The completion of this first phase of the EV charging stations constitutes the first step on our journey toward providing the infrastructure that promotes the use of these vehicles, contributing to the reduction of the carbon footprint in Qatar and toward cleaner air for all the people in this country.”
Eng Mohammed Al Sharshani, head of EV Charging Stations Unit, said that Kahramaa, represented by Tarsheed, was keen on cooperating with all local stakeholders, both in the governmental and private sectors.
“Kahramaa is promoting collective action and cooperation on highest levels to achieve sustainability goals” Al Sharshani added. “We are pleased with this partnership as installing EV charging stations in DFC Mall is a major step in the right direction. Kahramaa achieved a great leap forward in supporting sustainable transportation this year”. He concluded.
The Unity50 charging stations can charge electric vehicles with a power output of up to 50 kW and reduce charging times to less than 30 minutes.
The stations are managed by the efficient “ChargeSphere – powered by Kostad” web-based control and management system to ensure cross connectivity and visibility.
All stations will be monitored by Tarsheed Platform that connects all EV charging stations in the State of Qatar for a better user experience in 2023.
