Fastned is one of the largest EV fast charging networks in Europe, and might well be the network with the best designs in the world. Stations are solar powered. Multiple charging ports are offered. Even Tesla adapters are included for Tesla drivers who want to fast charge.
The latest news from Fastned is that it has opened its first fast charging station in Switzerland, and many more are planned. This is the 5th country Fastned has grown into. It can charge up to 4 cars at a 300 kW max rate.
Fastned & Switzerland 🇨🇭 Advancing EV Growth
This first Fastned station is near Zurich, but you can see that more than a dozen others are planned all around the country. Actually, it doesn’t look like that on the map, but it’s the first of 20 stations in the country.
Switzerland is one of the top electric vehicle markets in Europe, and thus the world, with 5% EV market share in the first half of 2020, as reported and historically visualized in that article, and nearly 7% market share in the first 10 months of 2020. The country plans to reach 15% EV market share by 2022. So, it’s no surprise to see Fastned moving rapidly into this region.
Fastned won the right to build stations at these locations from the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) in 2019. Here are some more facts on Fastned stations across the board:
“Since the company was founded in 2012, Fastned has built 131 fast charging stations across the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and now Switzerland. Additionally Fastned won a tender this year to develop and operate 9 fast charging stations along key motorways in France. Fastned specializes in the construction and operation of large fast charging stations at locations along motorways and in cities, designed to create significant capacity to charge up to hundreds of cars per location per day. At the stations, electric cars can be charged quickly with 100% renewable electricity. Fastned is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.”
Fastned & France 🇫🇷 Advancing EV Growth
A month before that Swiss Fastned station opened, the company won a tender for 9 EV fast charging stations in France. Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR) awarded Fastned with the right to develop them. As we’ve reported previously, the French EV charging sector is quite poor and challenging. As Fastned put it, these charging stations “will mark Fastned’s entry into the French market, where electric charging infrastructure is still sparse.”
These stations are focused around Paris in central France and southeastern France from just north of Lyon to close to the Swiss border west of Basel. “This is the first time Fastned wins a charging infrastructure tender in France and the first time ever that APRR held a public tender for EV charging infrastructure.” They are all supposed to be built in 2021, and Fastned gets the rights to operate them for 14 years.
As usual for Fastned, these stations will have solar PV roofs, will be 100% powered by renewable energy (solar and wind energy), and will use FSC certified timber structure. In other words, Fastned is about as green as it gets, and the company’s stations are also quite attractive.
France is, like Switzerland, one of the top EV markets in the world in terms of EV market share of the broader auto market.
Fastned Goes Shopping
A few days before the Switzerland EV charging station news, Fastned also announced an update on a partnership with REWE Region Mitte. Fastned has started opening charging stations at REWE supermarkets.
“Fastned, the European fast charging network for electric vehicles, has opened its fast charging station at German supermarket REWE Center Giessen, 60 kilometres north of Frankfurt. The new charging station is the first of a number of charging stations at REWE stores that Fastned intends to open over the next year. By combining fast-charging and grocery retailing, Fastned and REWE aim to improve electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Germany.”
In this case, because they are located at supermarkets where people will be shopping for a while, the charging stations are 50 kW stations rather than 300 kW stations. That means the technology matches with the preferred use at the location. At this first location, there are 8 dedicated parking spots for charging. Furthermore, as at the other stations noted in this article, these chargers are open for use 24/7.
All Fastned charging station and map images provided by Fastned.
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