As the trade journal Handelsblatt reports, the Beijing-based company XCharge plans to present its fast-charging stations at the E-World trade fair in Essen at the beginning of February. They should not cost more than 5,000 euros each. Founded in 2015, XCharge has already supplied the Chinese city of Shenzhen with charging stations. According to Handelsblatt, the American venture capital firm GGV has invested $10 million in the company. XCharge plans to collect another 50 million next year in order to increase the number of charging systems produced from 10,000 to 30,000.

In Germany, the automobile companies BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Ford along with the filling station operators Shell, OMV, Circle K and Tank & Rast have founded the joint venture IONITY, which aims to set up about 400 charging stations along European freeways by 2020. IONITY relies on the CCS standard (combined charging system), which envisages charging power of up to 350 kW per charging point. Continental on the other hand presented a wireless charging station using induction technology in May. The automotive supplier also presented the wired solution AllCharge , which is intended to make electric cars independent of charging station technology.