Stuttgart, Germany – Charging their electric car quickly, conveniently, and most importantly, anywhere: for many drivers of electric cars around the world, this is often more of a wish than a reality. Along with range and costs, charging is one of car drivers’ biggest concerns, as a study by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) shows. Bosch wants to remedy this with its proprietary platform, so it is now setting the next milestone for better access to charging infrastructure: offering more than one million charging stations on four continents. This now makes the technology company’s network one of the biggest in the world. “Bosch’s declared aim is to make charging stations widely accessible and put an end to the chaos caused by different charging apps,” says Marco Zehe, president of Bosch’s Electrified Motion division.
Users can access Bosch’s charging services with a smartphone app, and Bosch also offers its solutions for charging electric cars to vehicle manufacturers and companies. These services can be flexibly and easily integrated into a manufacturer’s look and feel and infotainment system, both functionally and visually, so that the driving and charging experience retain the manufacturer’s individual look and fit into its brand world. It takes just a few clicks to charge and pay – with full cost transparency. The charging stations currently included can be found across Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. At present, there are around 800,000 charging stations in Europe alone and another 130,000 in North America; by the end of 2024, there will be some 200,000 across Australia, New Zealand, and Asia – and the number is growing all the time. “By integrating over one million charging stations into one platform, we’re making it much easier for drivers of electric cars to search for and find them – all over the world. In this way, we’re making electromobility more and more suitable for everyday use by the general public,” Zehe says.
Inventive charging services are needed: by 2030, Bosch expects one in three newly registered vehicles worldwide to be purely electric; by 2035, it will be one in two. “We anticipate a huge surge in growth for the charging services business over the course of the decade – because as the number of electric vehicles grows, so does the need for straightforward and comprehensive charging solutions. And that’s good for us,” Zehe says. By the end of the decade, Bosch is expecting its charging solutions business to expand by more than 50 percent each year.
