E ON : German network of charging stations increasing in density

The National Platform for Electric Mobility (NPE) today presented its 2018 progress report to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to the report, the expansion of Germany's charging infrastructure is making significant progress. Preliminary estimates suggest that there were some 12,500 charging points in Germany in December 2017. More recent estimates made by the Federal Association of the German Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) even assume that there are 13,500 publicly accessible charging points nationwide. This indicates that the German charging network is becoming increasingly dense, not least of all as a result of the government's funding program.

Expansion of charging infrastructure and intelligent customer solutions

E.ON offers its customers a charging network in Germany with over 4,000 charging points. Just this summer, the company opened its first ultra-fast charging station on the A3 motorway near Geiselwind. Batteries in the latest generation of electric cars can be charged to achieve a range of 400 kilometers within 20 minutes. Over the next few years, another 180 ultra-fast charging stations are to be built across Europe. The next ground-breaking ceremony will be taking place at the Kassel Ost service station. E.ON plans to have around 60,000 charging points in Europe by 2020.

'We are contributing to strengthening electric mobility - and not only by expanding a pan-European infrastructure. We're also using smart, digital customer solutions that make it easier for motorists to switch to e-mobility,' says Karsten Wildberger, Member of E.ON SE's Board of Management and Chairman of NPE's Charging Infrastructure Working Group. In fact, E.ON was the first company in Germany to introduce a kilowatt-hour- and minute-based billing system for charging electric cars.

More electric vehicles needed

'We are well on the way to expanding our charging infrastructure. Particularly in metropolitan areas, the network of charging stations is increasing in density. In order to accelerate the usage of electromobility, more electric vehicles are needed in the market. This would also be beneficial for the expansion of the charging network,' says Wildberger. Of the 131,000 vehicles identified in the NPE report, less than half are purely electric vehicles.