āChaos at the charging stationā
Constructing a standardised and reliable charging infrastructure for e-cars is a key requirement for expanding the use of electric vehicles in Germany, Gero LĆ¼cking, director at energy provider LichtBlick, writes in a guest commentary for Handelsblatt. āThere are 6,500 public charging stations in Germany. Currently, a daunting chaos is reigning,ā LĆ¼cking explains. The present e-car charging network was made up of a variety of payment systems and ālacks reasonably functioning competition,ā enabling āregional monopoliesā to charge e-car drivers prices per kilowatt hour āthree to four times above those paid by households.ā According to LĆ¼cking, a solution would be to allow every energy provider to offer its rates at any charging station so that customers pay for recharging their car ātogether with their electricity bill.ā