Business Casual: Germany’s Transition to EV Going the Distance

At a time when every country should be accelerating a shift to meet ambitious net-zero emission goals to save our planet, Germany is putting the pedal to the metal in the electric car transition. A recent McKinsey report pegs Germany to become the world market leader for electric cars by 2021, with more than 1.7 million electric vehicles produced—a study that doesn’t even include potential production from Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory planned to be up and running by mid-2021. While electric cars made up only 1.8% of new passenger car registrations last year in Germany, with diesel and petrol cars accounting for 32% and 59.2% respectively, as part of a post-pandemic $146 billion economic recovery plan to boost consumer demand while eliminating refueling concerns, Germany is taking a bold step in moving their country from pollution-causing vehicles to zero-emission cars by requiring every gas station in the nation to install electric car charging stations at their locations. Further, the stimulus package will double existing subsidies to $6,720 on electric vehicles costing up to $44,800 while implementing higher taxes for fuel-thirsty, internal-combustion SUVs.

With only about 28,000 charging stations in operation currently, BDEW, Germany’s energy and water industries association, sees at least 70,000 charging stations and 7000 fast-charging stations as the minimum for mass-market EV usage and support in the country. Although the timeline for deployment and the type of chargers have yet to be determined, on this Business Casual segment, co-hosts Tyler Kern, Taylor Bagley and Daniel Litwin postulate on Germany’s EV stimulus, and chat about the logicality of incorporating charging stations at gas stations with Level 2 240-volt charging capabilities and outdated combustion-oriented infrastructure versus placement at convenient expressway petrol stations, and the benefits of Tesla’s Giga facility in Berlin versus importing EVs from overseas.

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