German automakers, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen (VW), are calling on the government to accelerate the scaling up of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations throughout the country. In an interview with German newspaper Bild am Sonntag on Sunday, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius emphasised the importance of building up the charging station infrastructure in order to hasten the transition to EVs. He noted that this was not just a question for the private sector but also for politics.
“To speed up the change (to electric vehicles), we need to be sure that the charging station infrastructure is being built up,” Mercedes-Benz Chief Executive Ola Kallenius was quoted as saying by the paper. “That’s also a question for politics.”
VW CEO Oliver Blume agreed that constructing charging stations was a collective task of the government, communes, and economy, and that greater speed was required.
The German government approved a plan in October 2022 to spend €6.3 billion ($6.74 billion) to rapidly increase the number of charging stations throughout the country, as part of its push towards net-zero emissions. This plan also aimed to speed up state approvals for charging point installations.
However, industry associations have long complained that the government has not kept pace with the rapid expansion of EVs and have emphasised that the effective implementation of the proposals is critical.
Kallenius stated that the future of the car is electric and that by the end of the decade, Mercedes-Benz aims to be prepared to fully transition to EVs in their market segment, wherever market conditions allow it. He also noted that this industrial conversion would require enormous effort, and it was not a foregone conclusion.
