Fastned to set up nine fast-charger stations in France

Dutch fast-charger company Fastned has won the tender by French highway operator Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR) to build nine fast-charging stations on the route from Paris to Lyon and from Dijon to Switzerland. Each station will accommodate 16 electric cars simultaneously; the largest Fastned has built so far.

In particular, Dutch electric drivers will appreciate being able to charge on the famous ‘Route du Soleil’, going south to the Ardèche and the Mediterannean in the future. For Fastned, it’s a solid start for conquering France, after being active with a total of 129 stations in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK and finally getting the green light in Belgium.

Fastned opened end of October its first charging station in Belgium at the Ostend Airport. That station offers four 300 kW CCS connections and two 50 kW CHAdeMO connections. In December last year, Fastned announced to have received permission to build 13 fast-charging stations along the Belgian highways.

Double the size of German site

Its biggest station so far is operational in Germany, at ‘Ladepark Kreuz Hilden’, which also opened in October, at a strategic location near the intersection of the A3 and A46 highways in the Düsseldorf area. Fastned joined forces there with Tesla, the latter providing its own – Tesla-only – Superchargers at the same location.

In Germany, the Fastned chargers are four Alpitronic Hyperchargers with two 300 kW CCS charging points each and a CHAdeMO connection. Fastned didn’t specify what it’s going to set up in France, but it’s assumed it will double that, accommodating each two cars simultaneously. The charging stations’ construction is planned for 2021 and Fastned is granted a concession to operate the stations for 14 years.

According to Fastned in the press release, “Sales of battery electric vehicles (this excludes hybrids) in the EU increased by 191% over the past three years, but the number of charging points grew by just 58% (to under 200,000), according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA report).”