E.ON launching its own ultra-fast EV charging network in Europe

Last week Ford, Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW announced IONITY, a new ultra-fast charging network that’d stretch across Europe, and it’s already got a competitor. Energy company E.ON has just revealed it’ll be launching its very own ultra-charging network across Europe, too – and it’s going to be even bigger.

When it comes to fast-charging networks the most important factors are size and speed, and the E.ON network should have IONITY thoroughly beaten on at least one front. Last week, IONITY said it’d aim to get 400 stations up across Europe by 2020, but E.ON says it’ll have installed 10,000 charging points by the same time.

That’s comparing an amount of sockets or points with an amount of stations, but even if you allow for a rather generous ten sockets per facility, E.ON will have at least 1,000 stations by 2020.

The speed of E.ON’s charging networking is going to be pretty competitive, too. Like most station’s today, the fastest of E.ON’s chargers will initially hit 150 kW, but there’s scope for a modular upgrade to a much faster 350 kW solution in the future. As we’ve been told by Porsche and several other car brands, 350kW charging could give you a range of something like 400 kilometres in just 20 to 30 minutes.

This isn’t Xbox vs PlayStation

On first glance, this seems like another format war, with two different companies fighting to charge your EVs. However, it’s actually much more beneficial to the consumer than that. Both companies are including all the main charging formats, so EVs owners will be able to use whichever network they like – there’ll just be more chargers.

There is one drawback, though. Most electric networks come with their own smartphone apps and login details, so you’ll need to register to a few before you can charge your car everywhere. It’s a bit like having one app for every brand of petrol station – it’s not perfect, but it’s a small price to pay for much more range.