Volkswagen Plans to Build an EV Charging Network in the U.S.

Because it has to, thanks to court settlements from the Dieselgate fiasco, Volkswagen will set up 2,800 electric vehicle charging stations in the United States. These are coming in a hurry, with a plan to get them all established by June 2019.

Unlike the Tesla Superchargers, these will be open to anyone. About 500 clusters of the chargers will be scattered around 17 metropolitan areas. A report from Reuters also said about 75 percent of the chargers will be located at larger workplaces.

The rest of the vehicle chargers will be in “multifamily dwellings.” That means apartment and condo complexes. Quite a few shoppers who live in such arrangements have passed on an electric vehicle, because they don’t have an option at home for charging up the battery. This move could help push sales up, and it’s surprising this hasn’t been an area of focus before.

About $800 million in charging infrastructure will be spent in California alone. The nationwide investment is $2 billion. Even if you’re not an EV fan, it’s hard to not recognize the economic impact this will have, especially for anyone certified to install the chargers, or that’s involved with the manufacturing process.