The ChargeNow charging service operated by Digital Charging Solutions for the BMW Group was renamed BMW Charging and Mini Charging respectively as of 1 July. Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) continues to operate the services.

Volvo Cars is now cooperating with PlugSurfing to offer its customers access to the more than 200,000 charging points of the Plugsurfing network. Volvo’s Polestar electric car brand recently joined the Plugsurfing network.

Digital Charging Solutions (DCS) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have developed a joint public charging service. My Easy Charge gives customers of the FCA Group’s BEV and PHEV models access to over 130,000 charging points in 21 European countries.

Bosch’s Europe-wide network of charging stations has currently passed the 150,000 chargepoint mark and is to be expanded to around 200,000 chargepoints by the end of 2020. The German company is focusing primarily on roaming agreements.

BMW has just signed a cooperation agreement with the Chinese state-owned energy supplier State Grid to drive forward the expansion of the Chinese store network for electric cars. One of the goals is to more than double the existing range of charging points to around 270,000 by the end of this year.

The Italian energy provider Enel has concluded eRoaming agreements with Allego, Bosch and Innogy through its subsidiary Enel X. The Enel X network will thus grow from 10,500 to over 30,000 public charging points.

Polestar will be cooperating with Plugsurfing in Europe to offer its customers access to the 195,000 charging points of the Plugsurfing network. This should make public charging easier across national borders.

The US electric car start-up Rivian has resumed work at its plant in Normal, Illinois after the interruption caused by the pandemic and now reports that there should be no delays in the schedule for the electric vans ordered by Amazon.

The UK utility Octopus Energy launched a new roaming charging service, which will allow EV drivers to access multiple charging networks with one account. Unaffiliated customers can also use the Electric Juice Network scheme.

EnBW and Smatrics found Smatrics mobility+ GmbH. The joint venture aims to operate the largest charging network in Austria and, above all, to expand high power charging. All Smatrics charging stations will be transferred to the new operating company.

The joint venture Charge4Europe, founded by Innogy and the mobility service provider DKV, has now joined Gireve. The French roaming platform combines more than 86,000 charging points from different networks throughout Europe and has already formed a cooperation with Hubject.

After first giving us his polarising observations on how not to make it in the business of charging infrastructure in last week’s guest contribution, the mobility consultant and former Hubject CEO Thomas Daiber now delivers the five biggest Do’s for growth and lasting success.

The energy supplier Fortum has signed an agreement to sell a majority stake of its public charging station operator Fortum Recharge to Infracapital. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2020.

Deficient business models and a hardware-intensive struggle for locations: Looking back, the former Hubject boss Thomas Daiber sees the ramp-up of the e-mobility charging infrastructure as a permanent turning into dangerous dead ends.

EVBox and has·to·be have entered into a roaming partnership. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will grant each other access to their charging networks distributed across Europe.

Allego, ChargePoint and EVBox have formed the ‘ChargeUp Europe’ e-mobility alliance to accelerate the development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Europe.

As the e-mobility market in Europe approaches adolescence, the option to charge anywhere without having to sign up for multiple providers – roaming, in short, becomes crucial. So we set up a digital meeting with the minds behind two of Europe’s longest-standing providers.

Share&Charge has just launched the Open Charging Network (OCN). The aim is to create a charging roaming network that will make digital communication between charging point operators, eMobility service providers and other market participants easier, safer and more cost-effective.

Before the end of this year, Chinese manufacturer Byton will be accepting advance orders from European customers for its first electric model M-Byte – for a reservation fee of 500 euros. Byton has also revealed some details on the planned distribution and charging service.

Ford has now presented the Mustang Mach-E for the European public for the first time at an event. At their Europe Roadshow Ford is taking the opportunity to inform consumers about the US-American company’s path to an electrified future. Part of this plan includes installing 1,000 charging stations at European company locations over the next […]

ChargePoint and the National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO) formed the National Highway Charging Collaborative. It plans to install fast-chargers at more than 4,000 US locations by 2030 and invest one billion dollars.

NewMotion has signed a roaming partnership with Fortum Charge & Drive. According to NewMotion, this brings its roaming network to over 135,000 charging points in Europe.

First mobility service providers are reacting to Ionity’s new pricing model of consumption-based high power charging. MSP’s such as Deutsche Telekom and Vattenfall have excluded the automobile joint venture from its preferred and cheaper partner options, while Ionity struggles to clarify the debate.

The Swiss energy group Alpiq is now launching its electric mobility subscription service Juicar in Germany and Italy. Juicar has been on the market in Switzerland since August 2018. In Germany the subscription is now available nationwide in cooperation with the fleet operator Arval.

The Porsche Charging Service now provides access to more than 100,000 AC and DC charging points across ten countries. Porsche has effectively managed to double their number of charging points within a year. The German luxury car manufacturer has also now officially confirmed the prices Ionity set for its customers.

Everything was to be so simple – one price for everyone charged per kWh at all stations within the Ionity high power charging network. Only it wasn’t that simple, as mobility service operators got exclusive deals to charge differently – to much dismay and a competitor’s delight.

Digital Charging Solutions launches a unified solution with partner OEM to enable EV drivers to access stations from more than fifteen domestic providers such as Podpoint, Source London, or Ionity.

High power charging provider Ionity, the JV between BMW, Daimler, Ford, and the Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche has announced a new pricing structure across its European network. Based on kilowatt-hours rather than a base fee, the system is simple but has its details.

The electric car rental company UFODrive is expanding into further cities. The Tesla Model 3 and Model S are now available for rent at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin and at three London locations.

Companies that use the Open Charge Point Protocol 1.6 (OCPP 1.6) in their charging products can now certify their implementations. The Open Charge Alliance has launched an independent certification program for this purpose.