Germany’s Telekom launches one charging fee for all

Germany’s equivalent to BT, the Deutsche Telekom will offer one rate for charging at all public charging stations in Germany – well those included in the eRoaming network intercharge operated by Hubject.

In order to put this one rate for all into practice, Telekom provides the app “Telekom Ladestrom” (Telekom charging electricity), listing more than 9,000 publicly accessible charging points throughout Germany.

The new offer is initially a trial, which offers electric car drivers a pretty attractive price of two cents per minute – regardless of the charging power. This introductory price includes VAT and is valid until March 31, 2019. Afterwards the tariff will increase to 4 cent per minute (with VAT).

In order to ensure maximum coverage, Telekom will get in touch with as many oroviders as possible through Hubject’s intercharge network. While intercharge signs responsible for billing in the backend, EV drivers can charge at the specified rate using their Telekom account.

Marcella Gäb, Head of eMobility & Energy Product Management at Deutsche Telekom said “We want to actively support their dissemination (of e-mobility) and provide our customers with a range of services for the whole of Germany”. Indeed, Telekom is pushing the expansion of its own charging network and installed the first charge points using existing telecommunications infrastructure this November. Eventually the network is to include up to 12,000 public charging stations.

Digital Energy Solutions, a BMW and Viessmann joint venture supports Deutsche Telekom in its market entry as an e-mobility provider (EMP) in the German market. In concrete terms, Digital Energy Solutions took over the technical connection of the partners, including billing between all parties. The tasks also include customer service and invoice verification through the so-called Enabler platform.

The Telekom electric car charging tariff will go live in Germany by mid-December.

electrive.net (in German)