German energy industry says ready for millions of e-cars

The German energy generation and distribution industry says it is ready for a significant increase in the number of electric cars on German roads, writes Jens Tartler in Tagesspiegel Background. Germany has enough electricity, said German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) head Stefan Kapferer at a press conference in Berlin. Even ten million electric vehicles would lead to a power consumption increase of only 4 to 5 percent, he said, while own consumption of power plants will increase with the switch to renewables, he said. Power grid operators also said they are prepared for the expansion of e-mobility. However, the government now has to introduce the right regulations to make sure operators are equipped to prevent grid congestion. “First and foremost, it must be ensured that private charging points have the technical capability for intelligent charging management,” said Kapferer. “Here, the announced support for private charging infrastructure can be a strong lever.”

Germany will likely miss its initial goal of having one million e-cars on the road by 2020. As of early 2019, there were about 83,175 purely electric and 341,400 hybrid cars registered in the country. Several major carmakers like Volkswagen or Daimler have announced plans to drastically increase the number of e-cars they sell, letting the projected demand for charging points rise accordingly. A trial by energy company E.ON has recently showed that investments in grid infrastructure needed to accommodate the growing number of e-cars will likely be much lower than anticipated. Italian energy company Enel has recently announced it will enter the growing market for e-car charging stations in Germany.