Helsinki Airport opens Nordics’ largest taxi charging station

Implemented by Finavia and Plugit, the charging station will serve the constantly growing number of electric taxis dropping off and picking up passengers at the largest international airport in Finland. Its roughly four-megawatt capacity is enough to supply a minimum of 90 kilowatts to each vehicle even when all 40 high-power charge points are in use.

The Plugit-supplied charge points have been designed specifically for environments that require reliability and high power output. The Pirkkala-based provider of charging solutions is also responsible for the day-to-day operation of the station.

“Thanks to the size of the area and the dynamic distribution of the total power, we can guarantee that there will be enough power for everyone,” pledged Tuomas Mäkelä, head of the commercial transport business unit at Plugit.

“When planning drives, you can safely assume that there will be no need to queue for a charging point and no need to wait unnecessarily due to slow charging.”

The station has been designed to enable a later expansion to support up to 100 simultaneous charges. The plan is also to complement the station later by introducing a booking system and taking electric buses into account, according to Mäkelä.

“The electrification of the taxi fleet, combined with the significant passenger volumes of airport taxi traffic, requires an efficient charging infrastructure located in the local area,” said Jarkko Martelius, managing director of Taxi Point, the company responsible for taxi logistics at Helsinki Airport.

Jukka Isomäki, head of parking and landside traffic for Helsinki Airport at Finavia, confirmed that taxi companies have long called for a dedicated and sufficiently powered charging station for commercial transport.

Taxi companies can gain access to the station by registering their vehicles and ordering a charging tag through Plugit APP. Plugit reported in its press release that by 5pm on opening day the station had supplied 870 kilowatt-hours of power to 28 taxis.

Helsinki Airport has also responded the increase in the number of non-commercial electric vehicles, most recently with the opening of a 600-kilowatt charging station consisting of eight charge points in October 2023. Isomäki highlighted at the time that the station supplements the capacity available in parking halls, raising the number of charge points at the airport to more than 350.