The Wolfsburg carmaker Volkswagen has a co-investor for its network of fast electric charging stations in the United States found. The Munich technology group Siemens takes a low three-digit million amount in “Electrify America”, founded in 2017, and in return receives a minority stake in the VW subsidiary, as those involved announced on Tuesday. Overall, Electrify America will receive a capital injection of $450 million, with the rest coming from VW itself. “With the additional investment, we can offer charging and energy solutions in the US and Canada make it available even faster,” said VW CFO Arno Antlitz (52).
For Siemens, joining the VW subsidiary Electrify America is “part of a much larger commitment to the electrification market,” said John DeBoer, North America boss of the Siemens e-mobility subsidiary. Among other things, Siemens is also involved in the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt and in the Electrify rival ChargePoint. The fresh money comes from the finance division Siemens Financial Services, but organizationally the issue is settled with the infrastructure division SI. Electrify America is valued at $2.45 billion at Siemens’ entry.
Electrify America was initially founded in response to the VW diesel scandal. A central requirement of the US authorities after the investigation was that the German car company must participate in major projects for more environmentally friendly traffic in the USA. The Wolfsburg-based group had promised Electrify America two billion dollars over ten years after the diesel scandal. The local manufacturer ford also wants to rely on the Electrify America network when expanding public charging points. The online giant Amazon has been involved in the plans since the end of 2019. He is supposed to sell devices for charging at home.
The Reuters news agency reported almost a year ago that VW was looking for a minority shareholder for the subsidiary – but at that time there was still talk of an investment of around one billion dollars. Volkswagen had also hoped for classic infrastructure investors. VW Technology Board Member Thomas Schmall (58) emphasized that Siemens is also an important strategic technology partner.
Electrify wants to double charging possibilities by 2026
Electrify America CEO Giovanni Palazzo said the goal remains to double the charging infrastructure in North America to around 1,800 charging stations and 10,000 fast chargers by 2026. The company not only works with VW, but also has agreements with non-group automakers such as Ford, Hyundai/Kia, BMW, Mercedes, Geely, Volvo and Lucid. Electrify America’s rival, Tesla’s Supercharger, has deployed more than 35,000 fast-charging stations worldwide since 2012. Recently, the superchargers can also be used by other e-cars be used.
VW wants to produce significantly more electric models in the USA in the coming years. In Europe, several factories are already being converted to purely electrical production. Here, the group is not only cooperating with Ionity in expanding the charging network, but also with the petrol station group bp. The locations of the chargingalliance With BP, Volkswagen wants to integrate it into the navigation systems and apps of the VW, Skoda and Seat/Cupra brands and into the charging application of its subsidiary Elli.