Volker Wissing, Germany’s transport minister (FDP), announced shortly after the release of the nation’s second Charging Infrastructure Masterplan that the country will accelerate the expansion of its electromobility charging network in order to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles. The cabinet-approved strategy lays out a road map for facilitating faster, more convenient, and easier charging for electric vehicles. Everyone anticipates that Germany will become the leading market for electric vehicles. We are a global leader in the automotive industry, not just any automotive location, according to Wissing.
Just about 70,000 publicly accessible charging places have been created in Germany since the initial strategy was first presented in 2019. To reach the nation’s goal of building one million charging points by 2030, the transport ministry has laid out a roadmap of nearly 70 actions to be undertaken in the upcoming years. Some priority themes include the construction of charging stations for larger trucks, the quick and unbureaucratic distribution of required space, the mobilization of private investment, and a closer integration of electromobility and power grids. Wissing recommended that charging infrastructure be user-friendly, demand-driven, and spread out across a large area. BDEW, a trade group for the energy sector, criticized the masterplan, arguing that charging stations alone wouldn’t be sufficient to meet climate goals in the transportation industry. Green electricity provider LichtBlick also criticized the fact that up to 90% of all charging stations are controlled by just one company, raising concerns that “local monopolies” could set prices and favor one provider over others.
By 2030, Germany wants to reduce its annual emissions of greenhouse gases from transportation by more than half, to 85 million tonnes. A 32 percent share of renewable energy must be achieved by the industry by 2030. The federal government has set a goal to have 15 million purely electric passenger automobiles on the roads of the country by the year 2030. The supply of e-cars and a dearth of charging stations are the major obstacles to this goal. New laws for alternative fuel infrastructure were also passed by the European Parliament, mandating that by 2026, charging stations for cars and heavy-duty vehicles shall be placed every 60 kilometers (km) or 100 kilometers (maximum) along important European roadways. Furthermore, by 2028 there should be hydrogen refueling stations every 100 kilometers.