Germany Will Make It Law For Gas Stations To Fit EV Chargers

At the IAA Mobility/Munich Motor Show, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that in the coming weeks, the nation will become "the first country in Europe to introduce a law requiring operators of 80% of all service stations to provide fast-charging options with at least 150 kilowatts for e-cars," reports Reuters.

Germany currently has 90,000 public charging stations, but by 2030, it is targeting 1 million to encourage EV adoption. With range anxiety out of the way, a much larger portion of the population will gladly switch to an electric vehicle. And with these getting more exciting every day - the new ID. GTI Concept is brilliant - the country's goal of having 15 million EVs on the roads by 2030 could very well be achievable.

According to Reuters (citing data from the KBA federal motor authority), Germany only had roughly 1.2 million EVs on its roads at the end of April, so there's still a long way to go. High MSRPs, limited driving range, and a lack of charging stations are all part of the problem, but this move by the government may be the turning point.

Interestingly, earlier this year, Tesla dragged Tank & Rest, a large gas station corporation in Germany, to court over its monopoly over service stations along the Autobahn, as the company has the right to decide where chargers can be installed. Tesla feels that it should be allowed to install Superchargers where they're most needed. With this new law, Tank & Rest may be pressured into working with Tesla to save on installation costs for mandated chargers.

Back home, Shell is looking into installing chargers at US gas stations, but there has not yet been a legislative push forcing such a development.

While it's not yet law for gas stations to be able to refuel electric cars, the cross-platform access of the Tesla Supercharger network has been a boon, and a newly-announced rival charging network will make EV living even more convenient soon.

Regardless, these moves are still not good enough for some. Despite Germany's best efforts to speed up the electromobility shift, and despite the scores of new electric vehicles and ideas being presented at the show, IAA Mobility has again been disrupted by environmental protests that are rather ironic. In one instance, protesters sunk cars and auto parts in a river to show their disdain for the Munich Motor Show.

The Chancellor had something to say on this matter, too: "Protests are part of public and democratic debate ... but it is a little anachronistic. If you walk through these stands and see the new technologies... to make mobility have less or no emissions in future, it [disruptive protesting] is a bit irritating."

His point is well-taken.

Finally, Scholz also remarked on Chinese EVs, which have arguably dominated this year's IAA Mobility expo. Many have voiced doubts over Europe's ability to compete with the technology that Chinese EVs offer, especially since there are several Chinese EVs launched for every single European EV that debuts.

"Competition should spur us on, not scare us," said the Chancellor. "In the 1980s, it was said Japanese cars would overrun the market. Twenty years later it was cars made in Korea and now supposedly Chinese electric cars." He added that German automakers' ability to compete is "beyond doubt."

We agree with him. Several Chinese EVs do what European or American EVs can, but better and for less money. We hope that the likes of Cadillac will learn from the products that they sell exclusively in China and combine their highpoints with those of the cars sold here. Together, American EVs like the Cadillac Lyriq can be so good that German Chancellors of the future worry about our products, not China's.