Keeping Tabs: Germany Promises One Million EV Charge Points by 2030
German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Sunday that her country will soon have one million charging stations ready for electric cars. Her words came ahead of numerous meetings with German automotive manufacturers on how best to spur EV adoption in Europe.
Pivoting to zero-emission vehicles has many worried about job losses. The United Auto Workers issued a nearly 40-page report on the implications of electric vehicles and how to address them during its negotiations with General Motors — after the automaker said the battery plant it was eyeballing in Ohio would require hourly employees to take pay cuts. The Center for Automotive Research has also indicated that EVs simply don’t take as many man hours to manufacture. It’s even mentioned in the Trump administration’s fuel economy rollback proposal — an effort bent on furnishing cheap automobiles and American jobs.
Germany is worried too, with groups echoing similar employment concerns. To mitigate those fears, while encouraging electrification and maintaining jobs, the nation wants to take its 20,000 charging stations to 1 million.
“For this purpose, we want to create a million charging points by the year 2030 and the industry will have to participate in this effort, that is what we will be talking about,” Merkel said, according to Reuters.
From Reuters:
The meeting in the Chancellery is the second on the issue that entails speedy action so that Germany’s transport sector can help meet national emissions targets.
Would-be buyers have cited a lack of fuel infrastructure as a reason to shun electric cars.
Apart from electric alternatives to gasoline and diesel-driven cars, the government will also explore those run on hydrogen fuel cells, with the government and the industry sharing the cost of subsidies to attract buyers for both.
Merkel said the government aimed to preserve jobs making cars and parts. It is becoming clear that fewer employees are needed to construct electric cars than conventional ones.
Stephan Weil, the prime minister in Lower Saxony and Volkswagen supervisory board member, said he wants to see commitments for 100,000 public charging points in place by 2021. VW is busy transitioning to electrification, and is already contributing to regional charging points — including here in the U.S. under its Electrify America subsidiary. The manufacturer has expressed a need for a comprehensive support infrastructure if EVs are to be truly successful.
Weil said Berlin should ease provisions to fund compensation for workers, should the industry become overstaffed. He also feels legislation is needed to changed to encourage more public and home charging points. “An extremely demanding time lies ahead for the German automotive industry that must be accompanied actively by policymakers,” he said.
However, there are other issues Germany should worry about. It’s currently dependent upon fossil fuels for the brunt of its energy. Some have complained that, without more renewable sources of energy, automakers will just be upstreaming emissions to power plants while also contributing to pollution via battery production. The national energy grid is also a concern, with engineers saying it will need to undergo an overhaul to endure the peak draw of countless EVs plugging in at home every night.
Germany’s plight shows what lies ahead if the U.S. attempts to bolster EV adoption; we’d be foolish not to take note of any victories or failures it encounters on the 10-year journey. Then again, the million charging points are arbitrary. Deutschland will probably build as many as it can in the time allotted. What we should be monitoring is how this affects EV sales, pollution levels, and employment rates.
[Image: Markus Wissmann/Shutterstock]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Looks like bolstered by good news about Nord Stream 2, Merkel now is confident of endless electricity supplies despite decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
In my part of the world the vast majority of the electric grid is publicly owned. I believe that is the case in Germany. Any expansion of that grid would be in the public domain including EV charging stations. Statistics do indicate that modern natural gas or diesel powered electrical plants cause less overall pollution when used in EV's than gas or diesel powered vehicles. Most new technologies will cause a decrease in workforce. That applies to everything beyond the automobile. The Canadian Government studied the effects of new technologies and found that in the next 20 years there will be at least 40% job loss among the workforce. Most of the people loosing jobs will be those without a skilled trade or post-secondary education. Those people will need to be transitioned to other forms of work.