Ionity has announced the launch of its ‘ultra-fast’ electric car charging station in Europe; and has also revealed that the charging system will be free for use for a limited period of time. As electric vehicle sales have been rising across Europe, the charging networks have become important for wider acceptance among drivers. Recent surveys have suggested that consumers are holding back their decision to buy EV because of two major reasons - cost of ownership and availability of charging station.

Ionity is a new ‘ultra-fast’ joint electric vehicle (EV) charging network created by BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Ford. The creation of this new network apparently marks one of the most notable EV charging infrastructure efforts after EV manufacturer Tesla’s Supercharger network.

While announcing the launch of its first EV charging station in Europe, Ionity has specifically confirmed that the charging station is located in Germany --- it is a Brohltal-Ost service station in Niederzissen. The company further elaborated that the charging station is based on the A61 motorway in the German state of Rhineland Palatinate. It is the first of 400 charging stations, with up to 350 kW capacity, which Ionity plans to launch across Europe by 2020.

Revealing that the company’s first ‘ultra-fast’ EV charging station is now operational at the Brohltal-Ost site, Ionity said that it will be operating the charging station “in conjunction with the German service station group Tank & Rast GmbH.”

Announcing the limited-time free use of the charging station, Ionity said: “Drivers of an EV fitted with a CCS charging plug are welcome to use the station free of charge until May 31, 2018.”