E.ON & Alpitronic Team Up For 2,000 More Charging Stations

While Europe already has a far better EV charging network than the United States, there’s still a lot of progress to be made. That’s why today’s news from E.ON and Alpitronic is going to be very welcome among EV drivers on the continent.

E.ON is investing in thousands of new, ultra-fast charging stations across Europe in the coming years. To install 2,000 of these charging sites by the end of 2024, E.ON has joined forces with alpitronic, a leading charger station manufacturer. The two firms are advancing electric vehicle adoption and expanding charging infrastructure throughout Europe as part of a strategic collaboration.

“Electromobility is a key factor in advancing the energy transition and saving CO₂ emissions. To ensure that even more people switch to electric driving in the future, charging must work as quickly and conveniently as possible,” said Patrick Lammers, E.ON Management Board member responsible for the customer solutions business. “At E.ON, we’re therefore determined on pushing the expansion of infrastructure throughout Europe and fostering new and innovative technologies for smart charging.”

In a statement, E.ON says that the electric vehicle (EV) market is exploding. By 2030, it is expected that at least 15 million electric cars will be registered in Germany. The resulting increase in energy demand will necessitate the development and efficient management of charging infrastructure expansion. E.ON’s charging network and its corporate clients’ networks will both be able to accommodate the 2,000 new rapid-charging stations. Customers of E.ON Drive may already charge their e-cars at around 160,000 public charging points in Germany and other European nations. E.ON has pledged to install a total of 5,000 additional fast-charging outlets by 2026.

E.ON says it is planning to expand and build new stations for public charging, as well as entirely new stations for business customers, in order to implement comprehensive decarbonization initiatives and enable consumers to charge their car fleets, trucks, and heavy commercial vehicles in an ecologically beneficial way.

“The close exchange with our partners along the value chain for charging infrastructure is essential to offer customer-oriented charging solutions.” said Philipp Senoner, CEO and co-founder of alpitronic. “At alpitronic, this allows us to provide reliable and future-oriented charging stations and thus increase the acceptance of electromobility.”

The new generation of alpitronic fast-charging columns with outputs between 150 and 300 kW will be used. In five minutes, a range of 100 kilometers can be charged for electricity in electric vehicles. The E.ON customers will also have access to the HYC400 High Power Charger, which has outputs up to 400 kW and is the first wall-mountable 50 kW charger, as well as the upcoming HYC50, which will be the first wall-mounted 50 kW charger available to E.ON clients. With this generation’s improved efficiency of 97%, energy losses will drop by half, resulting in considerably less CO2 emissions being produced.

With the rise of electromobility, integrated charging infrastructure into power grids is becoming increasingly vital. In addition, improved system management is also crucial. Against this backdrop, E.ON’s collaboration with alpitronic goes well beyond the installation of new charging stations. The two firms have committed to working together to accelerate the development of cutting-edge charging technology. The potential of intelligently managing loads in conjunction with time-varying electricity rates is being examined, among other things.

This is going to be great news for EV drivers in Europe. With the increased availability of chargers, coupled with the development of new technologies to make charging more efficient, it is becoming easier and more convenient than ever to switch to an electric car.

Featured image provided by E.ON.