Volkswagen Group has assessed the progress of its global fast-charging network. As of 2022, approximately 15,000 out of 45,000 planned fast-charging stations with a capacity of up to 350 kW have been connected to the grid. The company announced its intention to work with partners to build a fast-charging network accessible to all EVs globally during Power Day 2021.
By 2023, around 10,000 HPC charging points are expected to be available in Europe and up to 25,000 worldwide. Volkswagen is partnering with Ionity, Ewiva, BP, Iberdrola, Electrify America, and CAMS to achieve its goal. The company aims to have 45,000 HPC charging stations by 2025, with 18,000 in Europe, 10,000 in North America, and 17,000 in China.
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In Europe, the charging infrastructure will be expanded through the fast-charging joint venture Ionity (with Volkswagen Group brands Audi, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Porsche), Ewiva joint venture with Enel (focused on Italy), and partnerships with BP and Iberdrola (focused on Spain).
With BP alone, The group to set up approximately 8,000 fast-charging points across Europe. The Flexpole fast charging station produced by Volkswagen Components will be used for this purpose. In April 2022, the two companies inaugurated their first joint charging site in Düsseldorf and stated that up to 4,000 fast-charging points would be established at filling stations over the next 24 months. By the end of 2024, the 8,000 fast-charging points are expected to be connected to the network in Germany, Great Britain, and other European countries.
The American subsidiary of Volkswagen, Electrify America, is responsible for expanding the electric infrastructure in the USA, while the joint venture CAMS (formed by Volkswagen Group China, JAC, FAW, and Star Charge) is responsible in China. As of mid-2022, CAMS had built 760 fast-charging locations with over 7,000 charging points in 100 Chinese cities.
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Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group Board Member for Technology and CEO of Volkswagen Group Components, stated that Volkswagen has been working towards building a global fast-charging network for years and is now a pioneer in electric mobility with 15,000 fast-charging points in North America, China, and Europe. The company is relying on close cooperation with partners from the energy and industry sectors and sees charging as a high-potential strategic business area of the future.
The fast-charging approaches of Audi and Porsche were not mentioned separately in Volkswagen’s interim report. Audi announced additional locations for its Charging Hub in 2022, with plans to test another variant in Zurich and open regular locations in Salzburg and Berlin. Porsche is opening Charging Hubs in Spain in collaboration with Iberdrola, which will be more conventional fast-charging stations along important trunk roads, unlike Audi’s urban HPC charging with a lounge.
