BP wants to build 20,000 'ultrafast' electric vehicle charging stations in Germany
Die Welt
British oil company BP wants to build around 20,000 “ultrafast” charging stations for electric cars as part of a larger investment push in Germany, reports Die Welt. By 2030, the company aims to invest a total of around 10 billion euros in energy transition infrastructure with a focus on five main sectors: wind energy, hydrogen, biofuels, supply of charging stations, and electromobility. “The money gives us a lot of creative freedom. We believe in the German market,” Patrick Wendeler, the CEO of BP Europa SE, told Die Welt. Germany is BP’s biggest market behind the UK and the USA.
In order to expand the network of charging stations, Wendeler said that improvements to funding and political regulations are necessary. He argued that currently approval procedures take so long that plans are often slowed down. Wendeler said the focus of the investment is on developing so-called “ultrafast” charging stations, rather than growing charging capacity more generally, because “charging shouldn’t take much longer than refuelling with petrol or diesel.”
Last month, Germany had of 100,000 charging points in operation across the country. The German government aims to have 15 million electric passenger cars on Germany's roads by 2030, and wants 1 million charging points to support that transition.
