The founding of Electrify America was also a consequence of the emissions scandal – now Volkswagen’s charging network subsidiary in the USA and Canada is supposed to persuade more users of combustion cars to switch to e-cars. Another partner from Germany is there.
Siemens is joining the Volkswagen Group’s North American fast-charging network project Electrify America. Together, the partners want to invest 450 million dollars (426 million euros) in the expansion of the charging infrastructure for electric cars in the USA and Canada, as they announced on Tuesday.
In this context, the Munich electronics giant is also to receive an equity stake in the subsidiary of the US subsidiary of VW and a seat on its board of directors.
“The goal is to more than double Electrify America’s charging infrastructure by 2026 and expand it to 1,800 locations and 10,000 fast chargers,” said VW CTO Thomas Schmall. Then almost all US states should be covered. The manager Veronika Bienert from the Siemens Financial Services division spoke of “one of the largest investments” of her company in electromobility. It should be about both charging hardware and software for e-vehicles. The offers are open to customers of all car manufacturers.
Response to diesel scandal
Electrify America was initially founded in response to the VW diesel scandal. A central requirement of the US authorities after the investigation was that the German car company must participate in major projects for more environmentally friendly traffic in the USA. Two billion dollars are to be invested over a decade. The domestic manufacturer Ford also wants to use the Electrify America network when expanding public charging points. The online giant Amazon has been involved in the plans since the end of 2019. He is supposed to sell devices for charging at home.
VW wants to produce significantly more electric models in the USA in the coming years. In Europe, several factories are already being converted to purely electrical production. Here, the group is cooperating with the expansion of the charging network with the Ionity consortium on motorways and trunk roads, among others, as well as with the BP petrol station group.
