This comes shortly after BMW, Daimler, VW Group and Ford announced their plans to add just 400 ultra-fast chargers
06 Nov 2017 | 8421 Views | By Rachel Burgess, Autocar UK
Energy firm Eon has announced its plan to expand its electric car charging network to 10,000 points across Europe by 2020, dramatically more than the 400 ultra-fast chargers announced last week by a consortium of BMW, Daimler, VW Group and Ford.
Eon’s charging-point roll-out includes the UK, but the firm could not confirm how many ...
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Energy firm Eon has announced its plan to expand its electric car charging network to 10,000 points across Europe by 2020, dramatically more than the 400 ultra-fast chargers announced last week by a consortium of BMW, Daimler, VW Group and Ford.
Eon’s charging-point roll-out includes the UK, but the firm could not confirm how many would be installed here.
However, it said the number of charging points could go beyond 10,000 by 2020, depending on which partnerships it forms. It already has partnerships in Denmark with e-mobility company, Clever, to roll-out ultra-fast chargers to key motorways in Europe. In Germany, Eon is working with service station brand Tank and Rast to deliver an ultra-fast charging network, allowing EV drivers to travel the 600 miles from Flensburg in the north to Munich in the south.
The quickest of the charging points from Eon will be ultra-fast, which is equivalent to Tesla Supercharger levels. These will offer 150kW, with a modular upgrade option to 350kW, to accommodate the more powerful batteries which are gradually being introduced on EVs. The ultra-fast stations enable charging of a 250-mile range battery in 20-30 minutes, claims the company.
Eon, which currently has 6000 charging points in Europe, is one of many companies announcing growth plans for electric vehicle infrastructure, with many in the automotive industry predicting an approaching “tipping point” for electric vehicles: the time when they will finally become mainstream.
Only last month, oil company Shell announced a fast-charging service for electric vehicles at three Shell service stations in the UK, and said it would expand its service further in the UK, the Netherlands and the Philippines.
Meanwhile, last week, consortium of German car giants and Ford announced Ionity, its EV fast-charging network of 400 points by 2020, with Germany, Austria and Norway the primary focus.
Morgan Stanley estimates that 1 million to 3 million public charging points could be needed in Western Europe by 2030 to meet increasing demand. Current estimates show 120,000 charging points across Europe.
To promote its new service, Eon has released a video of the world’s only fully electric monster truck, a 200mph EV superbike and the Raesr Tachyon Speed electric 240mph supercar racing across the desert. It was the first run for the Tachyon Speed which has more than 1250bhp, 3650lb gts of torque and claimed performance figures of 0-120mph in under 7sec.