Petrol stations in Germany such as Aral and Shell are finding they will have to change their strategy as the world of automobiles changes. They may have began life as retailers of petrol and diesel, but only the stations that offer electricity as well are likely to survive. As Die Welt reports however, the stakes are high. Aral installed its first fast charging station on a busy arterial road in Bochum in 2019. The electricity “pump” can fill up an e-car within 10 minutes. But at €500,000 each, time is quite literally money. The paper reports that Aral didn’t even place a roof over its expensive new charging station, forcing its environmentally friendly customers to stand in the rain. The company’s boss promised to fix the situation, by rerouting traffic and building a roof for the charging station. But the problem highlights just how big a shift the entire industry will have to make in order to accommodate the needs of consumers. Aral plans to build 30 charging stations, each of which will have four charging stations, within 12 months. It says the stations will be able to provide drivers with 350 km of range within 10 minutes.
