- The partnership will enable Sodimac to join Enel X’s ElectroRuta project by installing charging points at its Homecenter Quilín and La Reina stores at the Sodimac central office and its main distribution center. The company will also start using electric vehicles for last-mile deliveries and supply its stores.
Santiago, April 22, 2021- As part of its commemoration of International Earth Day, Sodimac and Enel X have announced a partnership to spread electromobility in Chile. The agreement consists of installing 30 new electric vehicle charging stations up and down the country by 2023. These will be available for use by customers and the general public in parking lots of Homecenter stores, Sodimac distribution centers, and the central office.
Sodimac and Enel X will start in the Metropolitan Region by installing 11 charging points during the first half of this year and extending the reach to cover other regions by the end of 2021. Each station will have two charging outlets for vehicles.
Homecenter La Reina will be one of the first locations to see a charging station installed over the coming weeks. It will be located next to the most visited recycling depot in the La Reina municipality. After that, three charging points will be installed at the Quilín store in Peñalolén, six at the Sodimac headquarters in Renca, and one at its main distribution center in Cerrillos. Recently installed solar panels will be used to supply the power for the new infrastructure at Sodimac's corporate building.
Sodimac said that with this new technology, it would progressively incorporate electric vehicles in its fleet for last-mile deliveries to customers and for supplying stores from its distribution centers. Also, the company will support its transportation contractors in switching to this new technology. The project will begin as a pilot at the Lo Espejo de Cerrillos distribution center for deliveries to certain areas of the Metropolitan Region and then be extended to covering the rest of the country. In 2019, Sodimac became the first company in Chile to offer carbon-neutral online purchasing dispatches.
This initiative is part of Enel X’s ElectroRuta, the most ambitious electromobility project in Latin America, which was launched at the beginning of 2020. Through ElectroRuta, Enel plans to install 1,200 charging stations up and down Chile by 2025, enabling electric vehicle users to drive more than 5,000 kilometers, from north to south, with guaranteed autonomy. Some 177 charging stations have been installed in different regions to date. Today there are around 1,000 electric cars in Chile, and that number is projected to reach 80,000 by 2025.
"We are happy to partner with Enel X to contribute to the growth of electromobility in Chile. This is a task in which we must advance decisively as a country in the coming years to protect the environment. We will continue to make charging stations available to the community throughout Chile and progressively add electric trucks to our delivery fleets to reduce our direct emissions by 30% by 2021 and be carbon neutral by 2030," said Eduardo Mizón, general manager of Sodimac Chile.
"We understand that spreading electric mobility is a national commitment, and, at Enel X, we are taking on a protagonist role in this challenge. We are working as fast as we can to link up all of Chile through ElectroRuta. Many sectors have already joined our project, and today we are celebrating a new partner, Sodimac. This is helping democratize electric mobility for companies, industries, retailers, highway concessionaires, and, of course, for our homes," said Karla Zapata, general manager of Enel X Chile.
Sodimac is one of the signatories of the recent 2021 public-private agreement for electromobility. It was also selected by the Energy Sustainability Agency (AgenciaSE) to participate in the Electromobility Accelerator 2020, which certified the company for its Giro Limpio (clean seal) program. The latter certifies cargo companies that shift at least 50% of their freight in Giro Limpio-certified trucks. In other words, transport companies are committed to energy efficiency and carbon emission reduction.
In recognition of its reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the Environment Ministry's HuellaChile program awarded Sodimac with a seal of excellence at the end of 2020, making it the only retail company to have obtained that accolade for two consecutive years. Sodimac is ramping up its clean energy use and this year will install photovoltaic panels in all of its facilities, where this is feasible, to reach a total of 52.
Sodimac's recycling depot network is now the largest private network in the country. The company also offers over 4,400 sustainable products and services as part of its environmentally friendly initiatives.
Enel X is the Enel Group's global business line that offers services to accelerate innovation and drive the transition to cleaner energy. Enel X is a world leader in providing advanced energy solutions and demand response services. It has about 6 GW of total capacity and 124 MW of installed storage capacity, as well as about 175,000 charging stations available for public and private electric vehicles worldwide.