Fastned opens charging park in Italy
The fast-charging provider had already announced its expansion into Italy in the summer of 2023. The opening of the charging park in the north of the country, which was commissioned by the Italian motorway operator A4 Holding Group, was originally planned for 2024. After a delay – no reason is given for this – it has now gone into operation.
The new fast-charging park is located at the Truck Park Brescia Est service area on the busy A4 motorway between Milan and Venice, a major traffic artery in the north of the country. However, there are probably two other reasons why the first charging park is located in the north rather than the south of the country: Fastned reports that, according to the European Alternative Fuels Observatory, over 50 per cent of electric vehicles registered in Italy are located in the north-east and north-west of the country. Tourism certainly also plays a role. The charging park is located roughly halfway between Bergamo and Verona. From there, the motorway continues west to Lake Lugano, Lago di Como or Lago d’Iseo and east to Lago di Garda.
Whether locals or tourists want to use the new charging park, four Alpitronic fast-charging stations are now available on site for both. These are HYC400 hyperchargers, each with an output of 400 kW. The four fast chargers offer a total of eight CCS charging points, and two of the charging stations are also equipped with a CHAdeMO plug. But it doesn’t have to stop there. Fastned has announced that the charging park can be expanded to include additional charging points. However, contrary to what the name of the location suggests, the charging points cannot be used by heavy goods vehicles or even articulated lorries.
The plan is not to stop at this one location in Italy. According to the company, further locations have already been acquired. Further Fastned charging parks are also said to be in development. “We will continue to advocate for open markets and fair access to public tenders for locations to ensure we can bring more of Fastned’s award-winning charging stations to EV drivers across this beautiful country,” said Michiel Langezaal, co-founder and CEO of Fastned.
With the new charging park, the fast-charging provider is now represented in eight countries with its own locations. In addition to Italy, these countries are Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, the UK (Fastned does not differentiate between England, Northern Ireland and Scotland), the Netherlands and Switzerland. There are currently more than 340 charging parks in operation. However, Fastned is planning 1,000 locations by 2030, but the Dutch will have to step up their charging infrastructure development in order to reach their announced target.
There is also news from France: Fastned has joined the newly founded Charge France association, which consists of 13 charging infrastructure operators. In addition to Fastned, the association also includes Electra, Allego, Ionity, Atlante, ChargeGuru, Powerdot, Chargepoint, Driveco, Zunder France, e-Totem, Engie Vianeo and Izivia. The aim of the association is to set up 40,000 ultra-fast charging points by 2028.
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