Fastned, the European fast charging company, announced the win of a tender by the Danish road authorities Vejdirektoratet to build three fast charging stations in Denmark. This award marks the start of Fastned’s activities in the country and in Scandinavia. All three stations will be located on high-traffic roads, two will be opened by the end of 2023 and one in the summer of 2024. The addition of Denmark into Fastned’s network will contribute to the company’s target of 1,000 locations by 2030 in Europe.
Denmark has set itself the ambitious goal of a million electric vehicles on its roads by 2030, and the country saw the number of drivers going electric grow fivefold from 2020 to June 2023. A comprehensive fast charging network is vital to this transition, so Denmark is also investing in a fast charging infrastructure for long-distance travel along the Danish national road network.
In June 2023, the Danish road authorities published a tender for nine new locations of fast charging stations. Fastned applied for the three locations that fit best the company’s high-traffic location strategy. Now Fastned has been awarded all three contracts it applied for.
“Entering the Danish market is a big achievement for Fastned, and will help us with our goal to build 1,000 fast charging stations across Europe by 2030. We build stations where drivers can count on reliable charging and have the best charging experience. We are bringing this approach to Denmark, the seventh country in our network. Our team is working hard to expand our network to more European countries, to help more and more people make the switch to electric driving and hence accelerate the transition to fossil fuel-free mobility,” said Michiel Langezaal, CEO of Fastned.
The first Fastned stations in Denmark will be in strategic spots and offer a total of 24 chargers of 400 kW, the fastest in the industry. With 4 chargers, Helsingør will allow drivers to charge before they head to Sweden, on the Helsingør-Helsingborg ferry, an important European travel route in the Nordics. Grevinge station will also have 4 chargers, catering for drivers between Copenhagen and Aarhus. The third and biggest location, Langeskov Syd, will have a total of 16 chargers, and will be part of a major charging hub along the E20, where the famous and long Great Belt and the New Little Belt bridges connect continental Europe to Sjælland island, where Copenhagen is located. Grevinge and Helsingør will be built by the end of 2023, while Langeskov Syd will be in operation by the end of August 2024.
In a related news, the company has recently installed its 1,500th fast charger near Rouen, France. The new charger has been installed ahead of the summer holidays, at a well-known point on one of the most popular routes for holidaymakers traveling via or to France.
Last year, the number of chargers across the Fastned network grew by over 50 percent. Holidaymakers driving an electric car this year can now access more than 270 Fastned fast charging stations across Europe.
Almost all chargers at Fastned’s newly built stations in the past year have a charging capacity of 300 kW or more. Depending on the type of vehicle, this allows recharging of up to 300 kilometres in just 15 minutes.
Michiel Langezaal, CEO and co-founder of Fastned, said:”In 2012, we started Fastned with the mission to give electric drivers the freedom to drive wherever they want. This requires sufficient charging infrastructure, which we have worked very hard to provide over the past decade. We are now at the point where holidaymakers can easily travel around Europe with an electric vehicle. Even with a caravan or trailer, our drive-through stations enable drivers to easily charge without having to disconnect their trailer.”
Since last summer, Fastned has opened more than 60 stations in Europe and added more than 560 chargers across the network. Langezaal added: “We always choose high-traffic locations. And that pays off. In France, for example, we opened 24 new stations in the past year, providing more than 50,000 charging sessions to date. This has resulted in more than eight million fuel-free kilometers. And I am proud of that. We will continue to expand our network and build many new stations with the fastest chargers in busy European locations in the coming year.”
