Germany's automotive industry association (VDA) expects an accelerated take-up of electric vehicles once charging infrastructure grows more prevalent and vehicles become cheaper in line with falling battery cell costs. According to an Automotive News Europe (ANE) report, the news last week that a consortium of German OEMs, as well as Ford, are investing in an extensive pan-European charging network should be a major catalyst for EV sales in Germany according to the VDA's president Matthias Wissmann. He said, "Today we are convinced that the development will proceed considerably faster and forecast that roughly 15% to 25% of all new cars registered in 2025 will be electric. Every fourth or fifth new car sold will then have an electric drive."
Significance: The consortium of OEMs, including the VW Group through the Porsche and Audi brands, Ford, BMW and Mercedes-Benz announced that they would invest in jointly developing a pan-German electric charging network based on the CSS charging standard for the new generation of EVs that are being developed by these manufacturers and which will be launched in the next few years. Recently Herbert Diess said that in his opinion, the real tipping point for EVs would come in 2020.
