Germany Is Requiring All Gas Stations Get Electric Car Chargers

Germany is getting serious about electric cars.

Gas and Electric

Germany will require all future gas stations to feature electric car charging ports, in a move to boost demand for electric cars, Reuters reports.

The move is also in large part to help alleviate "range anxiety," one of the major reasons people chose a gas vehicle over an electric one.

"Internationally this puts Germany in the leading group of battery electric vehicle support," energy storage specialist at The Mobility House wrote in a statement, as quoted by Reuters.

Going Renewable

As part of the country's greater electric vehicle push, Germany is also doubling its existing subsidies electric vehicles to the equivalent of $6,720 for vehicles costing up to $44,800, CNN reports.

"This is about renewable energies," German finance minister Olaf Scholz told CNN. "This is about all the climate activities which are necessary to get to a [carbon] neutral economy in 2050. We have to start now."

Boom Time

Demand for electric vehicles may be booming in Europe, but Germany still has a long way before turning the majority of consumers towards electric vehicles. Only 3.3 percent of newly registered vehicles in May were electric, according to Reuters. Car sales also saw a huge dip as a result of the global pandemic this year.

"The industry is down in a dark cellar, and although it's managed to climb back up a few steps, there's still no sign of light," Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at the Ifo institute, an economic research think tank, told CNN.

READ MORE: Germany will require all petrol stations to provide electric car charging [Reuters]

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