Ionity to double the number of its high-power chargers in Sweden
Ionity and the Swedish real estate company Regio have joined forces to build twelve new ultra-rapid charge parks offering 108 public charging stations before the year’s end. This time, the selected sites include shopping centres at major motorway junctions.
Ionity and Regio have already determined specific locations. The HPC hubs will range from Skellefteå in the far north (known for the Northvolt battery factory there) to Karlskrona in the southeast of Sweden. Ionity currently operates 23 high-power charging parks in Sweden with 136 fast charging points. The additional 108 HPC chargers would increase Ionity’s offering in Sweden by almost 80 per cent.
The partners are in the midst of planning – as usual, Ionity requires a partner that can offer sites to host the joint ventures fast-charging installations. As for the twelve new hubs in Sweden, Ionity expects to complete these within the year.
And the Swedish strategy also reflects the new Ionity strategy. On the one hand, the focus is now on locations such as shopping centres and no longer just the motorways for long-distance traffic – ideally, the shopping centre is also well connected to the motorway. In this way, the charging locations are also attractive for residents of the region, or at least more attractive than charging parks at motorway service stations or petrol stations.
On the other hand, the individual locations are getting bigger to keep up with increasing demand. To date, the 136 charging points in 23 charging parks do not even correspond to six charging points per location (5.9), the usual Ionity average. However, with the expansion of 108 charging points at twelve locations, there will be an average of nine columns per charging park.
“Growing our high-power charging network across Europe is a top priority for us,” says Ionity COO Marcus Groll. “This collaboration with Regio marks a major step forward in expanding our presence in Sweden by offering charging hubs in urban areas. Together, we can provide strategically located public charging that can be conveniently integrated into EV drivers’ daily commute while also improving the long-distance electric travel experience.”
Regio CEO Eric Bergström adds: “The combination of our national reach plus Ionity’s HPC chargers will not just create value for our tenants and their customers but also make a significant contribution to addressing the shortage of public EV chargers in Sweden today.” He added, they were “very happy to start this strategic partnership with such an established and experienced firm as Ionity.”
Ionity is a joint venture of the car manufacturers BMW Group, Ford Motor Company, Hyundai Motor Group, Mercedes Benz AG and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche, and BlackRock’s Global Renewable Power platform as a financial investor. At the of 2022, the Ionity network counted more than 450 charging stations and more than 2.000 charging points in 24 European countries. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany, with additional offices in Dortmund and outside Norway’s capital Oslo.
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