The draft aims to combat market failure
On 28 December 2020, the Federal Ministry of Transport presented the draft bill for a fast-charging law (draft law on the provision of comprehensive fast-charging infrastructure for pure battery electric vehicles). The rationale behind this is that Germany can only achieve its climate protection targets through significant CO2 savings in the transport sector. To this end, the electrification of road transport is particularly essential. However, implementation is not progressing to the desired extent. The reason for this is the ‘dilemma between cause and effect’: the inadequate charging infrastructure makes electric vehicles appear less attractive, and the resulting low sales market for such vehicles is attributable to the inadequate charging infrastructure.
The Federal Government intends to counter this stalemate by providing ‘comprehensive, needs-based fast-charging infrastructure for purely battery-powered electric vehicles’. The main provisions of the Fast Charging Act are as follows:
- The federal government will determine the demand and then define at least ten regional lots in which it will specify the number of fast charging points, the equipment and the ancillary facilities for individual locations.
- The federal government will define the technical, economic and legal framework conditions for service provision, which must be observed by federal contractors with regard to the accessibility, performance, reliability, needs-based nature and user-friendliness of the infrastructure offering.
- The federal government will provide financial resources in the early market phase (market ramp-up phase) to ensure that the infrastructure is also established in economically less attractive locations.
Significant criticism of the implementation
Despite a very short deadline for stakeholders to submit comments (which ended on 5 January 2021), some associations expressed sharp criticism (BDEW, BEM). This criticism is aimed in particular at the severely restricted scope of application. All regulations apply exclusively to vehicles that are powered solely by an electric battery. Neither existing solutions (e.g. plug-in hybrids) nor those currently in development (e.g. e‑trailers) or newly developed technologies in the future (e.g. by means of an opening clause) are taken into account. There are also technical concerns about the draft, particularly with regard to the fact that the planned charging capacity for fast charging points (at least 100 kV) is not set in relation to the system voltage level.
Legal implications and outlook
It is to be expected that the ‘technical, economic and legal framework conditions’ to be defined in the future will have a significant impact on the industry. For example, car manufacturers could limit themselves to producing vehicles that meet these requirements. This would affect the entire supply chain, as suppliers would also have to align their business activities with these framework conditions in case of doubt. Ultimately, these aspects will also be relevant in the drafting of contracts (e.g. with regard to agreements on quality and intended use) and in compliance monitoring. Regardless of the specific implementation of the contents of the Fast Charging Act, legislators are required to bring them into line with the existing legal framework (e.g. in the EnWG, EMoG or LSV).
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