German cabinet set to meet on Feb. 10 to speed up electric car charging

A draft law, seen by Reuters, aims to support the rollout of around 1,000 fast charging stations alongside motorways and in remote regions by the end of 2023 with government funding of 2 billion euros ($2.41 billion). To ensure a wide geographical spread, successful bidders will be invited to construct and operate the facilities across lots that combine more and less lucrative locations, according to the draft.

The German cabinet in a meeting on Feb. 10 will debate measures to boost the number of fast electric car charging points to help speed up the rollout of electric vehicles (EVs), two government sources said. A draft law, seen by Reuters, aims to support the rollout of around 1,000 fast charging stations alongside motorways and in remote regions by the end of 2023 with government funding of 2 billion euros ($2.41 billion).

To ensure a wide geographical spread, successful bidders will be invited to construct and operate the facilities across lots that combine more and less lucrative locations, according to the draft. As it strives to meet climate protection targets to cut emissions from combustion engines, Germany is aiming for 10 million EVs and 1 million charging points by 2030 compared with around 500,000 EVs and 34,000 points respectively now.

But buyers must be convinced enough charging points will be installed, a task to be borne by utilities, carmakers and new investors in the infrastructure. Fast chargers will complement slower workplace and residential charging points.

Berlin last October agreed to subsidise wall-boxes by up to 900 euros, to be placed on house fronts and in garages. This has attracted 160,000 subsidy applications to date, alongside a parallel, wider, uptake of EV purchasing rebates.

Industry analysts say around 80% of charging is done at home. The draft also envisages price caps on the electricity sold at fast chargers and seeks to replace the current plethora of customer access cards with common payment card systems.

The bill will seek to prevent any one bidder holding too many of the charging lots on offer and to provide some compensation for early private investors that face subsidised competition. ($1 = 0.8312 euros)