Photo: Opel
With a great deal of electric cars set to be launched next year, the race is on to create the charging infrastructure required to support them. All European carmakers have their own agenda for when it comes to charging stations, but none of these plans seem to have the scope of that announced by Opel.
The German carmaker with French owners, together with the RheinMain University, announced on Tuesday plans to use 12.8 million EUR in funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics to create in its hometown, Russelsheim, the largest urban laboratory for electro-mobility on European soil.
For that to happen, Opel plans to install 1,300 charging stations across the city as soon as the first months of next year.
Given the huge number of stations and the city’s population of just under 65,000, that means there will be such a facility available for every 72 inhabitants of the city. That’s the highest density of charging stations in relation to the number of people in any European Union settlement.
By comparison, says Opel, the leading German city when it comes to electro-mobility, Hamburg, has one charging station for every 13,042 inhabitants.
The stations will be installed in all districts and residential areas, on Opel-owned land, on the parking areas of supermarkets and shopping centers and on the premises of the municipal clinic.
Curiously enough, Opel is one of the few carmakers in Europe to have restrained itself from making a big fuss about the electrification strategy for the coming years.
Since being taken over by French group PSA, Opel has been conducting business according to the guidelines of the PACE! Plan created by PSA. The plan calls for the introduction of the electric variant of the Corsa in 2020 and the plug-in hybrid version of the Grandland X at about the same time.
An additional two nameplates will join the electric range by the end of 2020, including the Mokka X.
For that to happen, Opel plans to install 1,300 charging stations across the city as soon as the first months of next year.
Given the huge number of stations and the city’s population of just under 65,000, that means there will be such a facility available for every 72 inhabitants of the city. That’s the highest density of charging stations in relation to the number of people in any European Union settlement.
By comparison, says Opel, the leading German city when it comes to electro-mobility, Hamburg, has one charging station for every 13,042 inhabitants.
The stations will be installed in all districts and residential areas, on Opel-owned land, on the parking areas of supermarkets and shopping centers and on the premises of the municipal clinic.
Curiously enough, Opel is one of the few carmakers in Europe to have restrained itself from making a big fuss about the electrification strategy for the coming years.
Since being taken over by French group PSA, Opel has been conducting business according to the guidelines of the PACE! Plan created by PSA. The plan calls for the introduction of the electric variant of the Corsa in 2020 and the plug-in hybrid version of the Grandland X at about the same time.
An additional two nameplates will join the electric range by the end of 2020, including the Mokka X.
Google News