The change in mobility poses new challenges for the automotive industry as well as for the commercial vehicle, passenger and transport industries. Regulations in the form of environmental zones or CO2 emission balances make the changeover from combustion engines to battery-electric drives absolutely necessary.

Porsche and the Spanish energy supplier Iberdrola have announced the construction of 35 HPC parks with six to eight charging points each in Spain. Twenty sites are expected to be put into operation next year, with the remaining 15 charging parks to follow in 2022.

Fastned has received the first order from France. The highway operator Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR) has commissioned the Dutch company to build and operate nine charging parks. The French Ministry of Transport must still approve the contract.

In Germany, a panel of top politicians and business leaders has decided on further incentives for electric mobility. As expected, these include the extension of the innovation premium until 2025, but also subsidies and requirements for the expansion of charging infrastructure.

Australian company Tritium has launched its MSC hardware platform to enable “truly scalable electric vehicle charging networks anywhere in the world”. A modular charging system approach is designed to both cater to today’s smaller electric car batteries, as well as being able to scale for future expansion.

Electrify America has now officially started the introduction of Plug&Charge at all charging stations in the USA. This means that drivers of compatible electric cars can now use the automated charging and payment process after online registration.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced the provision of $11 million to expand the US American state’s network of fast-charging stations, in order to support the wider adoption of electric vehicles.

The Volkswagen subsidiary Electrify America has reached a milestone in the development of its US-wide fast-charging network for electric cars. Over 500 locations with a total of 2,200 DC charging points and charging capacities between 150 and 350 kW are now in operation.

The government of South Australia is allocating $18.3 million in the upcoming State Budget 2020-21 to jump-start the uptake of electric vehicles. At the same time, the South Australian state government has shocked the EV sector imposing a road user charge on electric cars in 2021.

Chargefox has opened its first ultra-rapid charging station in Western Australia, the eighteenth nationally. The EV charging network provider has also signed a deal with Volvo following similar agreements with other major carmakers.

Fastned has won a higher court case in which the Dutch fast-charging company challenged the exclusive granting of permits for charging points as an additional service to freeway restaurants and petrol stations.

The Hyundai Motor Group’s entry into the Ionity fast-charging network is now official. The Korean company through its Hyundai and Kia brands holds a 20 per cent stake in the Europe-wide high power charging network founded by BMW, Ford, Daimler and Volkswagen.

The German Charging infrastructure specialist eLoaded has presented plans for energy and mobility hubs that the company plans to build throughout Europe. One of these projects is an innovation centre for energy and mobility with “Europe’s most extensive charging infrastructure”.

Enel X will install 200 charging points for electric vehicles at 100 McDonald’s parking lots throughout Italy by the end of next year as part of a new partnership with McDonald’s Italia. The company has already put the first locations into operation.

Total Germany has acquired the business activities in the field of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles from the Munich-based company Digital Energy Solutions from the Viessmann Group with effect from 1 November. Total is thus taking over around 1,400 charging stations with over 2,000 charging points at B2B locations.

The South Korean government has just unveiled a plan to greatly increase the number of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell car charging and refuelling stations among other things. This latest push is an attempt to get more people driving zero-emissions cars.

The US American Volkswagen subsidiary, founded following the Dieselgate scandal, Electrify America announced the launch of Electrify Commercial. The new business unit will focus on the delivery of turn-key vehicle charging solutions to utilities and fleet operators.

Fastned opened its first charging location in Belgium on Tuesday. This means that the Dutch fast-charging company is now active in four countries: the Netherlands, Germany, England and Belgium. Fastned has also started to issue a new series of bonds.

FEV has developed a mobile rapid charging station for the energy supplier Uniper. The station is equipped with an energy storage device and can charge two electric cars simultaneously with a charging capacity of up to 75 kW. The station is to be offered as “Infrastructure as a Service” – once the energy storage unit […]

Tesla may launch a fourth-generation Supercharger, which should allow charging capacities of around 350 kW, as Tesla’s automotive boss Jerome Guillen revealed. The first models to achieve such charging capacities have apparently already been determined.

Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) and Lexus Europe are launching a new charging service for Lexus drivers under the label “Lexus Charging Network”. The service is available in Norway, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain and Italy.

The new company i-charging from Portugal launched its mighty range of Blueberry charging stations at a virtual press event last night. The Porto-based vendor claims the chargers are designed to deliver 50kW to up to 600 kW through modular set-ups.

BMW Charging and Mini Charging expand their range of charging products for the market launch of the fifth generation of the BMW electrification kit. Together with the iX3 as the first model of this fifth-generation, a new mobile charging station is being introduced, and there is now also a bonus point system for plug-in hybrids.

Following the opening of Ladepark Kreuz Hilden, one of the largest charging hubs for Tesla and Fastned in Europe, we spoke with Michiel Langezaal. The CEO and co-founder of Fastned laid out plans and explained current limitations.

Shortly after Ford announced that the Mustang Mach-E GT would also be available in Europe from the end of 2021, Ford also announced the charging rate at Ionity charging stations and the wall box partners for Europe.

Fastned and Tesla have opened the ‘Ladepark Kreuz Hilden’ last night. Equipped with 20 superchargers and eight Fastned charging stations, it will be one of the largest charge parks for each of the two companies in its final stage. Our reporter Sebastian Schaal was at the opening.

The EU project NEXT-E with 252 fast-charging stations will soon be connected to Hubject’s eRoaming platform Intercharge. This involves 222 fast chargers with 50 kW and 30 HPC stations with 150 to 350 kW charging capacity in seven Eastern European countries.

ABB has officially entered into a charging infrastructure partnership with Lion Electric. ABB will make its complete portfolio of charging solutions available to the Canadian electric commercial vehicle manufacturer for distribution in North America under the new Lion Energy division.

The European offices of Hyundai and Kia, together with Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) are launching a new charging service for electric car drivers under the labels Charge myHyundai and KiaCharge. The service will be rolled out across various markets in Europe.

Ford has announced that the Mustang Mach-E GT will also be available in Europe from the end of 2021. Ford is not yet quoting prices for the top model of the electric SUV, but new performance data has been revealed. There will also be a special charging offer for customers in Europe.