Germany Will Convert 12,000 Telecom Distribution Boxes to Car Charging Stations

Deutsche Telekom will convert its distribution boxes to implement a plan to get 12,000 new electric car charging stations, the company has confirmed.

Telekom, a large European telecommunications company headquartered in Germany, is updating the distribution boxes in their network to renovate the current electric car charging infrastructure.

Telekom will build charging stations out of the distribution boxes, including 500 100-kW fast-charging stations, German business newspaper Automobilwoche reported a company spokesperson as saying.

The rest of them are going to be level 2 charge points with a charge rate up to 22 kW.

Level 2 chargers are supposed to fill an 80-mile battery in about three and a half hours.

DC fast chargers can make an electric car up to 80 percent charged in half an hour.

Easier charging in urban settings

Germany has about 10,800 public charge points at the moment. The 12,000 stations are estimated to be operational by 2020. Telekom already has two prototypes of the new distribution boxes with charge points.

The company plans to begin deploying them this summer. Nordic countries have already been using outlets for block heaters to charge electric cars. It is now getting more and more common for cities to install charge points in lamp posts.

It is a fact of life that electric vehicles have challenges about being used in urban settings because charging is difficult when one has to park on city streets.

London has already started a program to install EV charging stations inside street lamp posts in efforts to address the problem. London’s Kensington and Chelsea Council have signed agreements with independent energy technology company OVO and Berlin-based technology company, ubitricity. This is for the purpose of installing charging stations using lamp posts.

Incentivize electric vehicle usage

Experts also find Deutsche Telekom’s initiative is impressive, in terms of scale. Germany has been following behind several other European countries when it comes to supporting electric vehicles.

But now they have new incentives in place. Domestic carmakers are planning to establish new electric vehicle programs this year. With the several recently announced ‘ultra-fast’ charging networks expected to come to Europe, Germany could be covered when it comes to charging infrastructure, which generally helps electric car adoption.

Almost 40,000 plug-in electric vehicles had been sold in Germany until the end of September 2017. This shows around a 106 percent growth rate compared to the same period in 2016. This now makes Germany the 4th biggest plug-in electric vehicle market in the World, following China, the US, and Norway.

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In September 2017, 6,150 plug-in electric vehicle registrations have been made in Germany, with growth remaining strong. This represents an 84 percent annual increase. About 55,000 to 60,000 plug-in electric vehicles are forecast to be sold in Germany during 2017. This compares to 28,000 in 2016.

The Austrian company, Telekom Austria, is one of the companies utilizing infrastructure in place for electric car charging. The company has transformed phone booths into charging stations in 2010.