Big EV Fast Charging News from Denmark & Sweden
Electric vehicle adoption is jumping in countries around the world, but perhaps no more quickly than in Europe’s wealthier northerly nations. Along with higher EV sales comes the need for more EV charging, and we’ve got some more good news in that regard here again.
Denmark’s electric vehicle uptake has been growing strong — great news for Danes and the planet, but also a trend that could create serious bottlenecks at EV fast chargers for EV drivers on road trips or who don’t have home or workplace charging. The solution: add more charging stations — a lot of them! Danish cooperative OK a.m.b.a (OK) is doing just that, on a large scale. It is planning to roll out more than 300 additional fast chargers from charging station manufacturer Tritium.
OK is the largest fuel retailer in Denmark. Rolling out EV fast chargers at locations across the country does a couple of things for the EV revolution. First of all, it enables more and easier EV fast charging for EV drivers. Secondly, it makes many more Danish drivers aware that electric vehicles are indeed here and that you can charge them up quickly in the same places you can fuel up a fossil-powered car. This may not inform people that most charging is done easily, conveniently, and quietly at home — or that you don’t keep a backup battery in your garage — but it’s one of the best things you can do to assuage EV concerns amongst the broad public and enable more EV adoption (assuming there’s the EV supply volume that customers want).
OK has already bought the 300+ Tritium fast chargers. A timeline for rolling them out has not been indicated, but that implies they’ll be on their way quite soon. There’s still plenty of space for more big orders, too. “OK currently operates more than 670 fuel stations in Denmark. Many of these fuel stations are co-located with Coop retail outlets, Denmark’s’ leading consumer goods retailer, and the new charging stations will provide Danish drivers with access to fast and convenient charging infrastructure,” Tritium notes.
This 300+ charger purchase should be put in the context of Denmark’s current EV charging network too. By the end of 2022, the country had 784 EV fast chargers in place — making a 300+ addition a huge increase to the existing network. And, notably, that 784 total was a tripling from the year before.
“This deployment of Tritium fast chargers is part of OK’s wider plan to support the expansion of Denmark’s public charging infrastructure in both large and small Danish cities, providing the fast charging infrastructure needed to support the Danish Government’s goal of at least 775,000 electric or plug-in hybrid cars on the country’s road network by 2030, in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70%.” This will certainly help.
Nearly 40% of new vehicle sales in Denmark were plugin vehicle sales in 2022. That’s one of the best EV adoption rates in the world, but looking at it pessimistically, that’s still less than half of new car sales. Adding 300+ EV fast chargers could well help to bump the country over the 50% marker, though. The market share for plugin vehicles jumped from 23.8% in 2021 to 38.6% in 2022. Let’s see if the country can indeed pass 50% in 2023.
Neighboring Sweden may not have such big news, but it’s got some good EV fast charging news of its own. European EV fast charging giant IONITY and property company Regio are teaming up to bring a lot more EV fast charging infrastructure online. In the coming year, they plan to bring 108 more EV fast charging points online at 12 more EV fast charging stations.
Looking at the number of new stations may not seem very impressive, but looking at the number of charging points at those 12 stations is what it’s all about. Installing 4 charging points at 27 stations is not the way you really want to do things. Installing an average of 9 charging points at 12 stations is indeed the way to go. Then you don’t have the risk of overcrowding and long lines at charging stations. In fact, I’d say 8 or 9 charging points per station is a minimum for good EV charging experiences.
The charging stations will have power capacities up to 350 kW — if your car is equipped enough to handle that kind of power.
The fast charging stations are being installed “from Skellefteå in the far north to Karlskrona in the southeast of Sweden.”
Interestingly, IONITY notes that the target clientele for these charging stations are split into two groups — those who need a fast charge on a road trip and those who need fast charging options for their regular daily or almost-daily charging needs. IONITY does not clarify if specific stations are more geared toward certain populations and other stations toward the others, but one has to assume that is indeed being considered and the different needs of different types of EV owners are in large part driving station location choice. “The 12 new sites are aimed at both long-distance travellers, who can enjoy retail and catering facilities during battery recharge, and the growing number of EV owners who want to incorporate fast, public charging into their everyday routines.” That’s precisely what IONITY says.
But that’s not all. “Growing our high-power charging network across Europe is a top priority for us,” IONITY COO Marcus Groll added. “This collaboration with Regio marks a major step forward in expanding our presence in Sweden by offering charging hubs in urban areas. Together, we can provide strategically located public charging that can be conveniently integrated into EV drivers’ daily commute while also improving the long-distance electric travel experience.”
This is a big increase in EV charging infrastructure in Sweden for IONITY. At the moment, IONITY has 23 stations in Sweden with a total of 136 EV fast charging ports. (Note that that’s fewer than 6 charging points per station. It seems IONITY has determined that more charging points per station is indeed important.) Adding 108 charging points means nearly doubling the IONITY EV fast charging opportunities in the country. Throw 28 more charging points in there and it could have a clean doubling! And being smart about it, that could be at just one or two locations.
Stepping back into reality, IONITY says that it hopes to have most of this new charging infrastructure installed in 2023. The planning process has begun for all stations.
Have you seen any other big EV charging news from Nordic countries?
Featured image courtesy of Hyundai
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