“Chaos at the charging station”

Constructing a standardised and reliable charging infrastructure for e-cars is a key requirement for expanding the use of electric vehicles in Germany, Gero Lücking, director at energy provider LichtBlick, writes in a guest commentary for Handelsblatt. “There are 6,500 public charging stations in Germany. Currently, a daunting chaos is reigning,” Lücking explains. The present e-car charging network was made up of a variety of payment systems and “lacks reasonably functioning competition,” enabling “regional monopolies” to charge e-car drivers prices per kilowatt hour “three to four times above those paid by households.” According to Lücking, a solution would be to allow every energy provider to offer its rates at any charging station so that customers pay for recharging their car “together with their electricity bill.”