E ON : and Tank & Rast make it possible to drive an electric vehicle from Flensburg to Munich

• Plans are underway to expand infrastructure to offer ultra-fast charging with possible outputs of up to 350 kilowatts
• E.ON takes over operation and payment systems at around a quarter of German motorway service stations with charging points

and Tank & Rast are collaborating on the rapid charging of electric vehicles at over 90 motorway service stations throughout Germany. At these Tank & Rast locations E.ON will further develop the existing infrastructure by installing the next generation of charging columns. With 150 kilowatts (kW), these will have three times the charging capacity of their predecessors, allowing electric vehicles to be recharged in around 20 minutes.

Thus, from the A7 in the far north to the A8 on the border with Austria, E.ON will be operating a large part of the rapid charging infrastructure. Drivers of electric vehicles will, for example, be able to travel from Flensburg via Berlin to Munich or from Frankfurt to Dresden - and fill up their vehicles' batteries directly on the motorway.

The charging columns currently in place have a capacity of 50 kW, so are able to charge the battery of an electric vehicle to a level of up to 80 percent within around 30 minutes. The charging columns E.ON will use for further upgrades are based on a future-proof technology and, where required, can have their capacity increased not only to 150 kW but to as much as 350 kW, meaning charging times will be even shorter for the next generation of electric vehicles.

'In many areas E.ON is actively seeking out opportunities to cooperate with partners whose competencies complement ours so that we can offer our customers even better products and services. The collaboration with Tank & Rast marks an important milestone for E.ON in developing a comprehensive network of rapid charging stations in Europe. Only if the charging of tomorrow is almost as fast as it currently is to fill up with petrol will e-mobility prevail in long distances. And that's precisely what we're working on,' says E.ON Chief Operating Officer Karsten Wildberger.

'With E.ON, we gain another operator with many years of experience in e-mobility for our Tank & Rast service network, but on top of this, the collaboration supports our aim of continually developing existing rapid charging infrastructure in line with customer and market needs,' says Jörg Hofmeister, head of e-mobility at Tank & Rast.

E.ON supplies purely eco-power to the charging columns, so the vehicles charged there travel free of emissions. Column operation and the high technical availability required will be guaranteed by E.ON together with its regional suppliers Avacon, Bayernwerk, E.DIS and Hansewerk. For charging at home or at the workplace, as well as access to 4000 charging points in Germany, E.ON offers its customers bespoke solutions at www.eon-drive.de.