Mercedes-Benz: Challenges with EV charging just as difficult in Germany as it is in Malaysia

Germany leads Europe in electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Year-to-date, Germany has sold nearly 240,000 units of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), giving it a market share of about 12 percent.

Although growth has been strong, sales potential is still limited by charging infrastructure. Yes, Germany is much further ahead than many other countries in terms of deploying publically accessible EV charging facilities, but it’s far from enough.

The capital of Berlin alone has over 1,700 chargers installed, double that of last year’s count. However that’s still way lower than the minimum 400,000 charging points needed by 2040 if Berlin is to support the projected increase in BEVs.

At its current trajectory, BEV sales in Germany will soon hit a wall, for the same reason why BEVs cannot grow beyond its niche appeal – more than half of Germans live in apartments and even amongst those who live in landed property, only a small percentage of them have private garages. Most Germans park their cars on the street side, which if you think about it, makes deploying charging facilities even harder than in Malaysian condos.

Sales of BEVs cannot grow further if investments in charging facilities don’t grow in tandem, something which Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) is working to address by working with local service providers, more on that topic here.

Speaking at a media event earlier this month, MBM Vice-President Michael Jopp said the challenge of deploying EV charging facilities in Malaysia isn’t unique and is certainly not any more difficult than in Germany. It’s just a different type of challenge.

Unlike in Malaysia, most European city dwellers don’t enjoy the benefit of having a designated parking right outside their house. They will park at any available spot along the street. There is no designated parking spot, which also means that it’s almost impossible to install an EV charger for their personal use.

“In Germany you have another challenge. If you look at many of these dense cities (in Europe), you don’t have private parking. You park on the street, which is probably even worse from a charging infrastructure perspective. You probably have a lot more charging available but again you cannot indefinitely use it and there’s no guarantee that you have a public charging available, so it’s equally challenging. I think the real solution to that problem has not been found yet,” said Jopp.

However Jopp added this is a temporary challenge that society and all stake holders in the low carbon city agenda must work together to overcome.

“It’s a gradual process and obviously this doesn’t happen overnight but once you have it installed, then you’re ready and good to go for the next so many years. I think there will be tipping points in markets. Once charging infrastructure goes beyond a certain point it’s not a concern anymore. Once you have it installed you don’t need to think about it anymore,” he added.

MBM has yet to announce its plans to launch any BEV models here but adds that all of the company’s EQ series models including the EQS, EQC, EQB, and EQA are available for its picking.

Also read: Rich Malaysians have to wait: Mercedes-Benz EQS to launch in Indonesia in 2022, after Thailand