WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Europe's largest car manufacturer Volkswagen wants to open up its electric car charging network to outside companies. After car rental company Sixt as the first customer, talks are underway with other providers to enable their customers to use the charging stations, VW charging network subsidiary Elli announced in Wolfsburg. "We are also in talks with Europcar," said Group Chief Technology Officer Thomas Schmall. VW had acquired a majority stake in the Sixt competitor in 2022 together with partners.

Sixt announced a week ago that it would give its customers access to Elli's public charging points in future. The prices would be slightly higher than for Sixt's own customers, explained Elli CEO Giovanni Palazzo. According to the VW subsidiary, the network currently consists of 650,000 charging points throughout Europe, which are operated by partners such as Ionity, Shell, Aral and Eon. Elli itself does not operate its own charging stations, but says it offers access to the stations of more than 400 partners./fjo/DP/nas