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BMW and Volkswagen Are Building A Network Of Charging Stations For All Electric Vehicles | DrivingSales News

BMW and Volkswagen Are Building A Network Of Charging Stations For All Electric Vehicles

January 26, 2015 0 Comments

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One of the biggest consumer concerns about purchasing battery-powered electric vehicles (EV) is having easy access to charging stations. Truthfully, who wants to buy an electric car if they have nowhere to charge it? Elon Musk made a promise to solve this issue for Tesla drivers with the Supercharger network. To effectively compete in this realm, the American divisions of BMW and Volkswagen have teamed up to build 100 direct current (DC) fast charging ports across the country to assist with long-distance traveling requirements.

The two automakers are partnering in this initiative with ChargePoint, a startup company that provides the network for getting access to charging stations. The 100 new charging stations will be tied in with ChargePoint’s existing 20,000 stations throughout North America.

“Many of our customers voiced the concern about availability of public chargers,” said Robert Healey, BMW’s Head of EV Infrastructure, in an interview with Forbes. “We listened to them and we have committed to building out the infrastructure. To do that efficiently, we need partnerships between OEMs.”

Volkswagen and BMW will be supplying the majority of the capital that is required to build the 100 new charging stations, with the remainder of the funding coming from ChargePoint. Construction of the ports has already started in San Diego and the plan is to have all 100 of them finished by the end of this year. “The build out schedule is literally as fast as humanly possible,” Healey said. “We’re fully funded and fully staffed. The only limiting factor is normal construction time.”

The new charging stations will be constructed along high-traffic areas of Interstate 95 on the east coast, running from Boston to Washington, D.C. The new west coast charging stations will connect cities from as far north as Portland all the way down to San Diego. The plan is for these new charging stations to be placed within 50 miles of each other to allow for regular stops during long-distance travels.

The quick charging ports will include either two 50 kW DC Fast chargers or 24 kW DC Combo Fast chargers. A 24 kW port can charge a BMW i3 or a Volkswagen e-Golf up to 80 percent in 30 minutes, while a 50 kW station will charge these vehicles up to 80 percent in only 20 minutes. Importantly, the 100 new locations will include Level 2 chargers, which are slower but are fully compatible with all electric vehicles.

“From BMW’s perspective, we’re committed to support electric car mobility, not only for BMW but for others,” said Healey.

Although Tesla is ahead of the game, having already started the building of a vast network of “Supercharger” stations, one major advantage for drivers in the new initiative from BMW and Volkswagen is that the new stations will charge any electric vehicle. Tesla’s stations only work with Tesla cars. Conversely, the charging stations that are being constructed by BMW and Volkswagen use the popular SAE standard.

“A lot of [electric vehicle] drivers are Tesla drivers,” said Pasquale Romano, CEO of ChargePoint. “We need to get on the same page to accelerate the market. By using a common standard, we can get a significant gain over doing it ourselves. There’s 20,000 plus charging ports out there for 280,000 electric cars. It’s not big enough. DC needs a jumpstart and this is a great jumpstart.”

About the Author:

The DrivingSales News team is dedicated to breaking the relevant and the tough stories affecting car dealers. Have questions for DrivingSales News? Reach the team at news@drivingsales.com.

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