Volkswagen Building 150kW+ Charging Network For Electric Cars In USA

Volkswagen opted for a court settlement with the California Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency following the Diesel Gate scandal which revealed that the company was cheating on emissions tests for its diesel cars. Aside from providing compensation to affected owners and agreeing to invest $2 billion in electric car infrastructure in the United States, Volkswagen is going to build a “nationwide 150kW+ fast charging network” in the country.

It was reported last month that Volkswagen was going to install super-fast 320kW chargers for electric cars in California. The latest plan released by VW and the EPA shows that the company is also going to install chargers throughout the country.

VW is going to set up a nationwide 150kW+ fast-charging network for electric cars along highways. This is going to take the pain out of long cross-country journeys for most electric car owners who may suffer from range anxiety when they set out on a long road trip without knowing for sure if there will be charging stations along the way.

For this purpose, VW is going to set up a new subsidiary called Electrify America which is going to built this network independent of the automotive giant. The chargers are not going to be proprietary to VW and will rely on Combined Charging System (CCS), CHAdeMO and open protocols such as the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP).

The first fast-charging stations being set up by Electrify America will be operational by Q2 2018.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Transportation
Tags: Electric Cars, volkswagen