Mercedes-benz and Volkswagen CEO: Accelerate deployment of electric car charging network in Germany

February 20 - According to Reuters, German carmakers Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have called on the German government to do more to expand the number of electric vehicle charging stations across the country.

Ola Kallenius, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz, said: "To accelerate the transition [to electric vehicles], we need to ensure that charging station infrastructure is being built. The future of cars is electric, and by 2030 we want to be ready to fully transition to electric vehicles in our segment when market conditions permit."

Oliver Blume, Volkswagen's chief executive, agreed that speed was needed and that the construction of charging stations was a "joint task of the national economy, the federal government and municipalities."

In October, the German government approved a plan to invest 6.3 billion euros to rapidly expand the number of charging points across the country as part of a drive to achieve net zero emissions, as previously reported. The plan includes speeding up state approvals for the construction of charging stations. Hildegard Mueller, chairman of the German automotive industry association (VDA), is reported to have said that pure electric vehicle sales in Germany are expected to grow by 8 percent to 765,000 units in 2023, while plug-in model sales are expected to fall by 30 percent to 255,000 units.