Petrol pumps in Germany to have mandatory EV chargers

Electric powertrain based vehicles are the future, and I with confidence would say, the shift to electric has begun. Take Germany for example, recently the German Government mandated the petrol pumps within the country (14,118 stations) to provide electric charging stations. This rule has been mandated by the Government due to Germany’s new EV incentive package.

The vehicles in majority over the world are ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles, and some people who use these vehicles, are skeptical about making the move to EVs and their skepticism is understandable. Fossil fuel based vehicles, though detrimental for the health of the environment, are very convenient to use. Spend a few minutes at the pump, fill your the car with its respective type of fuel, and you are good to go for a considerable amount of kilometers.

Plus, even while travelling away from your home city, it is very likely that you will find a few petrol pumps, wherever you are, thus saving you from feeling any anxiety, about having to run a vehicle devoid of fuel. Enter electric vehicles, and though these type of vehicles are environmentally friendly, technologically advanced and in some cases, have enhanced performance, charging these vehicles has been known to be a chore. Electric charging stations are not plenty, and the time duration spent in charging them can be quite very long. However, EVs are still being worked on, and they are getting better and better with time, and I am sure that soon, when the EV trend and EV supporting infrastructure picks up in countries, then the ones who swear by ICE based cars, might just reconsider their choices.

Currently, diesel and petrol vehicles account for 32% and 59.2% of the vehicles in Germany, while EVs are sit at just 1.8%. Clearly the EV community in Germany is a minority and because of this reason (and other reasons) Germany has launched the EV incentive package, hoping that this would encourage people to switch from ICE vehicle to EVs. Furthermore, the German Government has also decided to provide subsidies for those looking to buy electric vehicles, and heavy taxes will be imposed on individuals who own large ICE based suvs.

The BDEW, which is Germany’s association for energy and water industries feels that at least 70,000 charging stations and 7,000 fast charging stations need to be set up across Germany in order to increase the mass market interest. At this point, Germany has 27,730 stations in the country. Germany has a long way to go in this respect, but the decision taken by them is in the right direction. In my opinion, ideas and decisions like these are what the world needs, but I feel places where individuals spend more time, such as restaurants, movie-halls, malls etc should also be considered as a space to position electric charging stations.

As we are talking about EVs, do read our article on a recent EV development in India – Morris Garages is working with Tata Power to build fast chargers in India