
Merkel wants Germany to have 1m electric car charging points by 2030 - jonbaer
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-germany-merkel/merkel-wants-germany-to-have-one-million-electric-car-charging-points-by-2030-idUSKBN1XD07Z
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est31
Note that she made a similar promise before which she didn't end up keeping:
[https://www.greenoptimistic.com/angela-merkel-electric-
cars-...](https://www.greenoptimistic.com/angela-merkel-electric-cars-
germany-20130603/)

Despite her promise, we have 196 thousand electric cars in Germany now
according to Wikipedia:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car_use_by_country)

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rasz
In EU direct government support for industry (state aid) is illegal AF, but
what if we coordinate "environmental" goals with one of the biggest privately
owned corporations product releases? Suddenly paying VW for infrastructure
from national/regional budget sounds totally legit.

~~~
jacquesm
I actually don't care. It's been a while since I saw a Polonez (that factory
now makes VWs) so what's good for VW is also good for plenty of other
countries where they produce cars and the end result will be a net positive
for the environment so how it gets done is irrelevant to me. I agree that it
is underground support for industry but what with the state already a big
shareholder it is more of an internal affair.

[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-lower-
saxony/l...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-lower-saxony/lower-
saxonys-new-government-says-will-keep-volkswagen-stake-idUSKBN1DM1Y9)

On the same note; ever wondered why Fiat or Citroen never won any bids to
supply the German Police or the army?

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zik
But how are they going to decide which type of charging point they'll be?
Maybe what's needed is some kind of standard charging point which has options
for future enhancement.

And then you have to convince the electric car manufacturers to use it instead
of their own proprietary one.

~~~
fyfy18
My city has recently installed a load of EV chargers (in the city center there
is on average one per sq km) and they all have Type 2, CCS/SAE and CHAdeMO
connectors - so any EV can use then.

~~~
zik
Does Telsla work with those?

~~~
fyfy18
Not out-of-the-box, but Tesla will sell you a dongle which converts to their
proprietary connector.

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spenrose
An attempt to capture the next few years of charging infrastructure:
[https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1152625267589840896](https://twitter.com/sampenrose/status/1152625267589840896)

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mentos
I hope they're super charging points otherwise I'm not sure waiting hours for
your car to charge is realistic?

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k__
I'm not up to date with e mobility.

What's the average distance you can travel today with a electric car?

How fast can they be recharged?

~~~
YZF
Tesla Model 3 Long Range can do >500km on a full charge and can be charged in
~30 minutes to full in a supercharger. You'd only want to do that on a long
road trip though since very fast charging could decrease battery life ... and
it also tends to be more expensive. For most commute situations much slower
charge rates are fine. Around where I live you can find 6 or 8KW chargers
(free). On those charging this Tesla to full would be more like 10-12 hours.
For most commuters just being able to charge while shopping e.g. in one of
those (for an hour or so) can do the trick.

~~~
chrisseaton
When the battery reaches end of life is it replaceable? Or is the car dead?

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esotericn
It is replaceable. Not sure on cost. The first Model S's are just beginning to
come out of the 8 year warranty period.

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Lendal
People don't understand yet why you don't need as many public charging points
as gas stations. People who buy EVs charge at home. Public charging ports are
only used by people who don't live there.

Edit: Yes people who don't have driveways still need them. Overall, not as
much infrastructure as we needed with gas pumps. Everyone with gas cars needed
public gas pumps, but only a subset of EVs need public charging stations.

~~~
chrisseaton
> People who buy EVs charge at home.

What if they don't have a garage or driveway?

How do you charge at home when your only parking space is the street?

Not everyone is a millionaire with their own private parking space and
charging point.

I don't understand how people think this works...

~~~
xiphias2
Cities can always install more on street charging points.

Also supermarkets, restaurants, workplaces can offer them...there's no reason
not having more charging points than gas stations, as electricity is
everywhere.

