All Petrol Stations in Germany Will Now Be Required to Offer Electric Car Charging

Germany revealed it will force all petrol stations to offer electric car charging, reported Reuters. The move is part of its plan to help remove refueling doubts and increase demand for the eco-friendly vehicles.

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The plan could create a significant rise in electric vehicle demand particularly since it is supported by a broader stimulus plan which included taxes to penalize ownership of large polluting combustion-engined sports utility vehicles.

The plan also provides a 6,000 euro subsidy towards the cost of an electric vehicle.

“It’s a very clear commitment to battery-powered vehicles and establishes electric mobility as a technology of the future,” energy storage specialist The Mobility House, whose investors include Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, said, according to Reuters.

“Internationally this puts Germany in the leading group of battery electric vehicle support.”

Demand for electric cars has been limited by concerns about their operating range. In Germany, EVs made up only 1.8% of new passenger car registrations last year.

However, Diego Biasi, chairman and co-founder in Quercus Real Assets told Reuters the new German measures would provide a significant boost to electric vehicle adoption.

“We know that 97% of the reason why they’re not buying electric cars is range anxiety. The German move is a way to try and fix this range anxiety since it means you know a petrol station is always open.”

But this is not necessarily an easy feat. As of March 2020, Germany had 27,730 electric car charging stations and would require least 70,000 charging stations and 7,000 fast-charging stations more to achieve a mass market for an electric car.

Still, there is still plenty of hope. EV performance has increased by around 40% in the past decade, due to innovations in battery pack design and cell chemistry. We may just see an EV friendly future yet.