100 of 200 Deutschlandnetz locations on highways completed
The expansion of the Deutschlandnetz is also progressing along highways: The 100th of a total of 200 planned charging stations in unmanaged service areas has now been opened. It is located at the PWC facility in Räthisgraben on the road to Stuttgart and is operated by E.ON.
Inauguration of the 100th highway charging station
Image: Autobahn GmbH Südwest
It is a figure with symbolic power – yet it obscures the fact that the development of Deutschlandnetz locations along highways is not progressing as quickly as originally planned. The construction of the Deutschlandnetz network, which includes around 1,000 fast-charging stations, 200 of them on highways, was supposed to be completed by the end of 2026. The unreality of this timeline became apparent already last year, partly due to issues in securing medium-voltage connections. In an interview with electrive, Johannes Pallasch, head of the National Charging Infrastructure Center, said at the time that locations might be completed by 2027, with a smaller number still possible in 2028.
That’s the background information — now onto the specific 100th Deutschlandnetz location on the highway. The fast charging park is located on A81 near PWC Räthisgraben in the direction of Stuttgart. It has three Alpitronic HYC400 charging stations, each with two charging ports. In total, there are six charging ports available, capable of delivering up to 400 kW of power. If both charging ports of a station are in use, the power is shared between the two vehicles.
The operator of this charging park is E.ON Drive Infrastructure, which, along with Autostrom Nord, Fastned, and TotalEnergies, was one of four bidders to succeed in the February 2024 bidding process for Germanynetz’s highway charging stations. These four winners have since been building and operating the 200 planned charging parks at unused rest areas along the highways on behalf of the federal government.
Germanynetz charging park in Räthisgraben inaugurated by Transport Minister Bilger
The opening of the Deutschlandnetz charging park in Räthisgraben provided Steffen Bilger (CDU), the federal transport minister who had only taken office a few weeks prior, with a welcome opportunity to advocate for further development of charging infrastructure. He said, “Modern transport policy must get the infrastructure of tomorrow underway today. With the opening of the 100th Deutschlandnetz location at unmanaged rest areas, we take another step toward our goal of ensuring that people can charge reliably and quickly everywhere. With each new location, we build trust in electric mobility, make the transition easier, and combine individual mobility with effective climate protection.”
Dagmar Fehler, spokesperson and CEO of NOW GmbH, added: “With the 100th Deutschlandnetz fast-charging station on the highway, we reach an important milestone in building a nationwide charging infrastructure. Deutschlandnetz connects regions and makes electric mobility more reliable over long distances. Our goal is to provide a charging service that people across Germany can rely on: high-quality, dependable, and available exactly where they need it.”
Timo Sillober, CEO of E.ON Drive Infrastructure, noted: “In Germany, over two million battery electric vehicles are registered. Their share of new vehicle registrations currently exceeds 30 percent. With the 100th fast charging station at an unstaffed rest area in Räthisgraben, we at the Autobahn GmbH are taking responsibility for electric mobility in Germany. As a pan-European operator with more than 10,000 charging points across eleven countries, we are now extending this network to the A81.”
TotalEnergies adds three new charging stations on the highway
Meanwhile, E.ON is not the only operator to open a new Deutschlandnetz charging station on an autobahn in recent days. TotalEnergies has announced three new autobahn locations, specifically at the unstaffed service areas of Adelzhauser Berg Nord and Adelzhauser Berg Süd (both on the A8) as well as Winterberg West (on the A96). In total, eleven charging stations with 22 charging points have been opened at these three locations. All of them come equipped with a canopy for weather protection. Thus, TotalEnergies has now opened 11 of its 33 locations on autobahns under Deutschlandnetz.
What is still almost completely missing in Germany, however, are charging parks at the commercial service areas, those with gas stations and rest stops. The background to this is a multi-year legal dispute between charging provider Fastned and the Autobahn GmbH. This was resolved in March, with the outcome being that the construction and operation of charging stations at highway rest stops must be subject to public bidding. Since then, Germany’s CPOs have been waiting for the relevant bidding process to begin, which concerns charging infrastructure at around 360 locations. However, a bidding process for 124 truck charging parks at highway rest stops was recently announced, set to start in November.