DE: Telekom launches nationwide EV charging network

Germany’s telecommunication company Telekom launches their charging network initiative in the country. Their first public charging station is now open and the network will grow to include up to 12,000 public EV charging stations. The clue is to use existing infrastructure says Telekom and we gathered the details exclusively.

The start has now been made in the town of Darmstadt. Here, Telekom took the first three charging stations online. In addition, the headquarters in Bonn have two premieres going on with a new converted charging station as well as the first of a planned network of 500 fast charging stations with up to 150 kW going live as well.

In order to boost the charging infrastructure in Germany, the formerly state-owned Telekom is converting parts of their standing telecommunications infrastructure into EV charging units. The main part of the conversion concerns the upgrading of the distribution boxes used to establish telephone and internet connections. These grey cubes on the side of the road will be fitted with their own power supply and a digital measuring unit. The use of existing infrastructure saves the need for additional construction for launch, according to Telekom.

When the network is complete, each charging station will feature one or two type-2 charging points, which can charge vehicles with up to 11 kW. But that is just the start. Bruno Jacobfeuerborn, CEO of Telekom subsidiary Deutsche Funkturm (DFMG) and the newly founded Comfort Charge GmbH, says that the infrastructure will be “expanded by additional fast charging points”. He also emphasised that Telekom was working on a future-safe network stretching across all of Germany. So parallel to the standard charging stations, about 500 fast charging stations are planned to be built over the next three years. A charging capacity up to 150 kW will be provided at each of the high power charging points (HPC).

The expansion is being facilitated by Comfort Charge, another Telekom subsidiary with about a dozen employees. The company is responsible for the acquisition of real estate to build, operate and market the charging stations. The use of the electric vehicle charging stations will be handed over on a lease to providers of electric mobility. Fleet operators can also order custom infrastructure for their operations from Telekom.

Source: via email