Allego Holding B.V., a leading pan-European electric vehicle charging network, announced a strategic partnership with ATU the market leader in Germany of automotive service and spare parts and accessories. With this agreement in place the EV charging infrastructure roll out in Germany is about to get an enormously strong boost: ATU and Allego have agreed to equip an additional 400 ATU branch locations with e-charging stations. This nationwide project and charging network is to begin as early as this year.
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“With the signing of the contract, we are playing a leading role in the expansion of e-mobility. Together with our partner Allego, we are meeting the challenges of the energy transition with a high-performance charging infrastructure at over 400 locations. At the same time, with this cooperation, we are further expanding our outstanding position as a service and accessory partner for e-mobility across the board,” explains Lars Heyne, Managing Director for Transformation (CTO) at ATU. It is likely the partnership will go beyond the mere role out of this network, and strengthened with further joint projects and targeted activities in the areas of marketing, communication as well as developing special fleet offers.
High Power Charging Stations for Ultra-Fast Charging
Specifically, the partnership provides for the installation of fast charging stations at 400 ATU stores totaling around 900 charging points. Allego is investing a mid-double-digit million sum for this purpose, and ATU will provide the locations for the charging stations. Allego Managing Director Ulf Schulte explains: “We deliberately chose ATU for this major project. We were just so impressed by the strong branch network with attractive locations and motivated by our very successful cooperation to date spanning 41 locations already.” Turning to the specifics of the agreement, Allego will lead on the construction and maintenance of the foreseen high-power charging stations. All of whom will at least have a 150 kW of charging capacity, enabling electric cars to charge up in a short time. “Currently, the plans foresee the start of the build out of 85 new locations already this year all in close cooperation with our partner ATU of course. In addition, the existing 41 locations will all be upgraded to 150 KW,” Schulte continues.
According to ATU CTO Lars Heyne, the roll out of all of the foreseen infrastructure is to be expected on stream by the end of 2024: “However, the schedule will depend on delivery times and approval procedures and can therefore not be accurately predicted. ” Given that 41 ATU locations are already equipped with charging stations, the nationwide network will grow over time to around 440 locations and will envelop over 80% of the entire ATU branch network in Germany.