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- Audi plans to build luxury charging hubs for EV owners in more cities in Germany, after a successful pilot rollout in Nuremberg.
- The reservation-only charging hubs are aimed at EV owners who may not always have charging opportunities at home or work.
- The hubs, which average 35 visits per day, offer space to relax, work, and eat, and feature six charging spaces.
Audi revealed this week it will expand its charging hub concept after a positive response from EV drivers following the opening of its prototype hub in Nuremberg, Germany. Aimed at urban drivers who may not always have access to charging at home or work, the automaker's luxury charging hub is also a lounge, available by reservation via an app, offering space to relax, work, and eat.
The automaker said repeat customers accounted for 60% of charging sessions at its pilot site in Nuremberg, proving the viability of this station concept for cities. At the same time, the charging hub is neither a convenience store nor a restaurant in the traditional sense, but something closer to an airline lounge with staff, space to work, light refreshments, and even a grocery delivery service.
"Starting in the second half of the year, a second compact Audi charging hub pilot site will open in downtown Zurich, followed by sites in Salzburg and Berlin. Additional sites are slated to open in Germany in 2023 and mid-2024."
The pilot hub features six reservable stations—a modest number still meant to fulfill demand at any given hour—with the hub registering 3100 charging sessions between January and the end of April of this year. The hub itself was visited by an average of 35 people per day, which is an encouraging number given the requirement for reservations.
"The numbers and positive customer feedback demonstrate that our concept of offering flexible, premium quick-charging infrastructure in urban spaces was spot on," said Audi charging hub project manager Ralph Hollmig.
However, one issue that gives us pause is that Audi EV owners seem to be people who live in houses or otherwise have charging opportunities at home. The demographic of city-dwelling EV owners without charging opportunities at their place of residence is perhaps more of a European phenomenon.
While Audi is expanding this station concept in Europe, with plans to build stations in more cities, the automaker is not quite ready to make plans for similar stations stateside.
But there is some movement among US station builders to introduce similar concepts, ones that are closer to the look and capacity of large gas stations with convenience stores—a component that has been missing from the vast majority of EV charging stations over the past decade. Electrify America is starting to introduce stations of this type in California, with charging stalls for over a dozen cars in high-demand areas. But existing gas station owners aren't exactly sprinting to offer fast-charging capability to EV owners.
Ultimately, Audi's charging hub concept is quite distinct from what is viewed as the next step in charging stations in the US, which are finally starting to incorporate the usual things drivers expect. But it will still be a while before stations of this type will become common here.
Will this type of hub concept catch on, or do you simply want to see more chargers at gas stations? Let us know in the comments below.
Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum. Despite being followed around by French cars for the past decade, he has somehow been able to avoid Citroën ownership, judging them too commonplace, and is currently looking at cars from the former Czechoslovakia. Jay has been with Autoweek since 2013.
