A consortium of companies which includes some of the leading automakers has agreed to build what they say will be an “ultra-fast, high-power” charging network along major highways in Europe.
The joint venture includes BMW, Daimler, Ford, and Volkswagen, which owns the Audi and Porsche brands.
The group says it will build a direct current network of approximately 400 charging points for battery electric vehicles.
In a joint statement, the consortium says this is an “important step” towards facilitating mass-market battery electric vehicle adoption.
The network itself will be based on the Combined Charging System standard technology, and will expand the existing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Europe.
Individual charging points will enable motorists to use DC current to fast-charge their vehicles with 350 kW of power, say the companies.
At the moment, the country with the highest number of charging points is the United States, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.
This is according to OpenChargeMap.org, which says there are approximately 80,000 charging stations across more than 40,000 locations around the world.
