Audi electric cars charging at a proprietary charging station in Germany , automaker plans to invest €100M in charging infrastructure.

Lagging in EV initiatives, the German auto industry now needs govt support to move on

Posted on 20 Jan 2020 at 16:27 UTC in Electric Vehicles, News 0 Comments

Author Photo: Iqtidar Ali by Iqtidar Ali | @IqtidarAlii

Disruption of the automotive industry is getting prominent with each passing day, according to latest information coming from Berlin, Germany, the government of Angela Merkel is preparing to aid the struggling auto industry to avoid mass layoffs as the situation worsens with time.

Auto News Europe reported the German labor minister Hubertus Heil plans to introduce wage subsidies for the automakers and their suppliers if the decline in the German automotive sector continues. Recently the VW CEO Herbert Diess said that “The era of the classic carmakers is over”, he meant it.

Transition to electric vehicles and the new trend of self-driving software are the two disruptive elements that the legacy automakers are facing in the new age of auto manufacturing, Tesla is currently the global leader in vehicle software and the only car manufacturer in the west to have a pure EV vehicle lineup in production and deliveries not just prototypes or concepts.

According to Bloomberg, PSA Group’s German division is planning to cut 4,100 jobs in the coming years, the reason is the same, technological disruption and sales slowdown, PSA Group HQ is in France and holds the brands Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, and Vauxhall.

Audi has announced in a latest press release that they are building 4,500 charging points at their own factories and properties across Germany, for this charging infrastructure Audi is putting in a EUR 100 million investment.

The other most available and fast-charging network in Europe is Ionity, and recently they have increased their prices to a level that is not welcomed by EV owners at all, €0.79/kWh which means charging a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus (50 kWh) from 0-100% will cost around €39.5. If it wasn’t for the widely available Tesla Supercharger Network in Europe, 3rd party options would’ve also affected Tesla owners and potential customers as well.

Perhaps Audi is taking the right step but the question is ‘will it be enough’ or ‘fast enough’ to not meet the fate of Kodak or Nokia? We will have a clear answer in the coming years, stay tuned!