CAPTION: VW wants to improve the charging infrastructure for electric mobiles in Germany. (picture alliance/Peter Steffen/dpa/archive)
Volkswagen plans to speed up the snail-like development of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Germany by turning to portable fast-charging stations.
The charging poles, which take 17 minutes on average, can be set up at public car parks or on company property, VW's components division said. The company plans to roll out a pilot project to install the poles in the northern city of Wolfsburg - where VW is based - in the first half of 2019, before taking it to other German cities in 2020.
The poles, with charge capacity of 360 kilowatt-hours, can be set up independent of the power grid and can be charged with alternating current, making it possible for them to use solar or wind energy.
Up to 15 e-vehicles could charge their batteries while the pole is unconnected from the electricity supply. Should the energy supply fall below 20 per cent, the emptied pole could be switched out for a new one. The poles' locations can be found using a smartphone app.
Thomas Schmall, VW's head of components, spoke of a "decisive step towards an efficient grid of charging points," a lack thereof being one of the main hurdles to the expansion of electromobility in Germany.
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