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]