Volkswagen Group has taken a stake in the German company Hubject GmbH, which is developing a standard method to map and pay at electric charging stations.
With the strategic investment in the Berlin-based company, Europe’s largest car maker plans to push ahead with the digital interconnection of charging stations for electric vehicles starting in early 2017 as well as the expansion and internationalization of Hubject GmbH together with the founding shareholders.
One of the requirements for increasing acceptance of e-mobility – apart from an attractive range of models – is a well-developed charging infrastructure with an international payment system that is as simple as possible. Hubject, founded in 2012 by BMW, Bosch, Daimler, EnBW, innogy and Siemens, provides EV drivers with easy access to charging stations as well as payment solutions. Almost 40,000 charge points on three continents are already available on this platform.
In 2013, Hubject launched “intercharge”, a cross-provider and cross-border solution for charging electric vehicles through its own eRoaming platform in order to interconnect isolated solutions of the charging infrastructure.
Hubject does not operate any charging stations itself, but enables the smooth exchange of data in the background via the “intercharge” charging network. More than 240 companies across the world use the platform, including manufacturers of electric vehicles, energy providers, mobility service providers and telecommunications companies.
By investing in the eRoaming market leader Hubject, the Volkswagen Group is emphasizing its commitment to making e-mobility available to the mass-market and to systematically expanding the infrastructure.
“We have set our sights on becoming a globally leading provider in the field of sustainable mobility. With our investment in Hubject we are supporting the digital transformation and making an important contribution to the transition to the era of e-mobility”, said Thomas Sedran, Head of Group Strategy at Volkswagen AG. As part of its “TOGETHER – Strategy 2025” program, the Volkswagen Group plans to launch 30 new electric vehicles by 2025.
Thomas Daiber, CEO of Hubject GmbH, and the six founding shareholders look forward to the Volkswagen Group’s engagement: “Charging must become more customer-friendly if electric cars are to make the breakthrough and catch on quicker. Together with our new shareholder we will be working at top speed to push forward with interconnecting the charging infrastructure.”
Christian Hahn, CEO of Hubject GmbH, added: “We now have seven strong shareholders from three sectors of industry, which gives us the ideal basis for systematically pursuing our growth course in e-mobility. We are excited about this future-oriented collaboration together with the Volkswagen Group. And we remain open to welcoming further new international shareholders in the future.”
