German service stations must have EV charging

Germany will require all its service stations to provide EV charging.

That’s part of a 130 billion euro COVID-19 recovery plan which includes stimulating EV uptake and and penalising polluters through staggered taxes.

But EV customers have voiced concerns about limited EV charging and range, so adding EV chargers to Germany’s 14,118 service stations is expected to help boost EV demand, Reuters reports.

Germany had only 27,730 EV charging stations by March this year, so more than 70,000 charging stations and 7000 fast-charging stations are needed, its energy and water association BDEW says.

EVs comprised just 1.8% of new passenger car registrations last year, with diesel and petrol cars making up 32% and 59.2% respectively, Reuters

adds.

Of the 168,148 new registrations in May, only 5578 or 3.3% were electric, according to German vehicle agency KBA. A further 51.1% were petrol powered, 31.6% were diesel cars and 17.6% were hybrid or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) cars.

France

has also put up an 8 billion euros package which includes EV incentives and a scrappage scheme boost to get rid of polluting vehicles.