Czech-based power utility CEZ AS (BAACEZ.PR) plans to open 50 charging stations for electric cars across the Czech Republic this year, as it launches an electric mobility pilot project, a top executive said Tuesday.

"We believe that the now tiny market for plug-in electric cars will become a significant segment over the time, and as a power utility we can't sit idly and wait for electric cars to just show up on roads," Tomas Chmelik, the head of Clean Technologies and FutureMotion department at CEZ told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

CEZ has earmarked tens of millions of koruna for the pilot project, but it can deduct all such spending from its bill for carbon-dioxide emission allowances. CEZ and other eastern European utilities have an opt-out until 2020 from paying for CO2 credits, on condition such money is instead spent on environmentally-friendly technologies.

In terms of power sales, electric cars will long remain a negligible blip in CEZ's annual sales of about 68 terra-watt-hours, he says.

"There'll have to be tens of thousands of electric cars on roads to create a necessary critical mass," Chmelik said, adding that he expects the electric car market to start growing more swiftly only after 2015.

CEZ has teamed up with French car maker Peugeot SA (UG.FR) and several local shopping mall operators, municipalities, and Czech units of Ikea and McDonald's Corp. (MCD) for its electric car project.

The company has entered a three-year lease contract for 65 electric passenger cars from Peugeot, branded as Peugeot iOn, offering a 150 kilometer radius per charge.

CEZ, active across eastern and south-eastern Europe and Turkey , will first focus on its home market in the Czech Republic and offer Peugeot iOns for hire to its Czech clients. It has granted Peugeot one-year exclusivity before starting talks with other electric car makers, Chmelik said.

CEZ will own its charging stations, some of which will offer fast battery recharges of up to 60% of their capacity in 30 minutes. A standard, full battery recharge takes six hours.

The company has dismissed a battery swapping option, preferring charging stations as it wants to make its network available to a wide range of different cars.

"I personally think that battery-swapping stations are good for uniform car fleets only," Chmelik said, adding that CEZ will use the Mennekes charging plug standard for electric cars, pioneered by RWE and Daimler.

According to current retail power prices, electric car users will pay between 50 and 60 koruna ($3.1-$3.7) per 100 kilometers, consuming about 12 kWh of electricity. This compares with average fuel costs in the Czech Republic of about CZK280 for 100-kilometer drive in a traditional combustion-engine car.

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