Sales of electric cars in Europe have been stuck in the slow lane, but could that change as governments and private companies become more involved in providing public charging there? On Monday, ABB, the Swiss electric engineering and power grid company, announced that it would install a national network of 201 fast-charging stations in the Netherlands.
Cal Lankton, director of electric vehicle infrastructure for ABB in the United States, said in a telephone interview that the solar-aided stations, which can fully charge a car in 30 minutes or less, will be installed by 2015 at service stations on ring roads and other intracity locations throughout the Netherlands. ABB said that when the network is complete, all of the country’s more than 16 million people would live within 31 miles of a fast-charging station.