Makro on the charge with electric vehicles

Uzbek supermarket chain Makro is building the country’s first charging network for electric vehicles

Makro will roll out 30 electric vehicles charging stations located its supermarkets in Tashkent and 10 other cities across the country.

“We were proud to be the first retailer in the country to install an EV charging station, and the expansion of the network is the logical next step,” said Roman Sayfulin, chief executive at Makro. “We take our environmental commitments seriously and it is always exciting to share a new technology with our customers.”

Makro’s pilot charging station was installed in November 2020 at the company’s Ecopark branch in Tashkent. The Makro location is just one of a few in Uzbekistan listed on PLUGSHARE, an open source map of electrical vehicle charging stations. Makro customers can charge their vehicles for free, with an 80% charge achieved in 40 minutes.

Carbon neutral

The new national network will include 20 fast charging stations with two plugs – one AC and one CHAdeMO – and 10 super-fast charging stations with four plugs – one AC, one CCS and 2 CHAdeMO.

This month, the Uzbek government announced a target to be carbon neutral by 2050—the latest step in a set of moves by the government to create a greener Uzbekistan.