Volkswagen plans 36,000 charging points for electric cars throughout Europe

Volkswagen is aiming for a rapid growth of e-mobility and is redoubling its efforts in the field of charging infrastructure. Throughout Europe, the Group will be installing a total of 36,000 charging points by 2025; 11,000 of these are to be developed by the Volkswagen brand.

They will be installed at Volkswagen plants and at about 3,000 Volkswagen dealerships in all large towns and cities. With its Group company for charging infrastructure Elli (Electric Life) and its charging service "We Charge", Volkswagen is also moving into further lucrative business areas connected with charging. All in all, the Group is investing about €250 million at its European locations. At the same time, the Group calls for other measures to take effect rapidly for more charging stations in Germany.

"Charging infrastructure will increasingly become the crucial factor for the rapid breakthrough of e-mobility in Germany. Charging an electric car must become just as easy and normal as charging a smart phone. This is why we need significantly more charging stations in public spaces," says Thomas Ulbrich, Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen brand responsible for E-Mobility.

Estimates by Volkswagen indicate that 70 percent of all charging operations will be carried out at home or work in the future. Volkswagen company Elli will be offering complete charging solutions for companies and consumers to meet these requirements from 2020 onwards.

Public charging stations will be used for about a quarter of all charging operations. With Volkswagen's "We Charge" service, customers will have access to more than 100,000 charging points throughout Europe in the future. Partnerships with retail chains are planned, allowing customers to charge their cars conveniently while they are shopping. A start has been made with Tesco in the UK and other chains are to follow. Volkswagen has also laid the main foundations for charging on long highway journeys.