The German utility firm EnBW has purchased 117 new electric vehicle charging stations from the Swiss 
engineering firm ABB for installation along cross-country networks in Germany, according to recent reports.
The Swiss firm delivered 68 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to EnBW last year, as noted in a new statement on the matter, so it seems likely that the current numbers represent just a small part of the overall charging station supply partnership.
ABB reportedly delivered some 5,000 or so EV charging stations for use with passenger cars or commercial vehicles last year — to various customers around the world.
Reuters provides more: “They (those purchased by EnBW) are due to be installed at service station operator Tank & Rast locations by the end of the year. Tank & Rast operates about 350 filling stations and 390 service areas on German autobahns, according to its website.
A Tesla charging at an ABB fast charging station in front of an ABB factory.
“… Power utilities such as EnBW, tech start-ups and oil majors are vying to become dominant players in the fast-growing business of charging stations. These are now increasingly being installed on Europe’s motorways to accommodate a new generation of electric vehicles from makers such as Tesla, Porsche, and BMW with long range batteries.”
It’s unclear what the power capacity of these 117 new electric vehicle charging stations will be. Presumably, it will be a mixture of slow chargers and fast chargers, and potentially some that have the ability to reach 350 kW. We’ve reached out to ABB for comment.
“The need to rapidly expand the charging infrastructure network has once again been shown during this year’s International Motor Show in Frankfurt, where nearly all automotive companies have announced a massive expansion of their electric vehicle ranges,” commented ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer, in a public statement.
It’s noteworthy here that ABB joined the European Long-Distance Electric Clean Transport Road Infrastructure Corridor initiative back in 2014 — which is aimed at increasing the availability of EV charging infrastructure to those operating in European Union member states. Presumably, we can expect to see ABB’s EV charging solutions sales continue from here on out with the growth of the EV market.
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