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]
More on electric cars: GENERAL MOTORS ANNOUNCES HIGH-PERFORMANCE, ALL-ELECTRIC HUMMER