Germany must tackle infrastructure “failures” that are impeding the take-up of electric vehicles— and risk hitting the development of the EV batteries sector, according to an industry body chief.
The president of the German Federal Association for e-Mobility, Kurt Sigl (pictured), told last week’s Battery Experts Forum in Aschaffenburg progress in developing “e-mobility” in the country was plain “bad”.
Sigl said while the setting up of nationwide battery charging facilities for e-vehicles was going “better than expected, the situation is over-evaluated because in the future 80% of EV charging will be done at home”.
And Sigl warned existing laws could pose problems for the much-needed introduction of home-charging facilities for those renting a home in a block of apartments— a common situation in Germany.
“As things stand, if you live in a block with others and you are the first one who wants to install a charger box for your vehicle, you will not be allowed to install anything if just one other resident objects,” Sigl said.
“This is just one sign of the full failure of e-mobility in Germany, which is also being undermined by the automotive industry in Germany”, Sigl claimed.
Sigl said the automotive industry should do more to invest some of its profits in improving charging infrastructure for e-vehicles, which in turn would support domestic and European batteries production.
