European fast-charging Fastned enters Switzerland

Fastned opened the first of 20 locations along key Swiss motorways, adding a 5th country to its European fast-charging station network.

Fastned, the European fast charging network for electric vehicles, added a 5th country to its fast-charging portfolio with the opening of its first fast-charging station in Switzerland. The station is the first of 20 locations along key routes that Fastned won in a tender organised by the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) in 2019.

Fastned’s first station in Switzerland is situated close to Zurich, on the rest area Suhr along the A1 Margrethen–Geneva motorway, that crosses Switzerland from East to West. The fast-charging station features Fastned’s yellow canopy with a solar roof, and offers 300kW fast charging for up to four cars simultaneously, delivering up to 300kms of range per car in 15 minutes.

As a result of the award of tender by FEDRO in March 2019, more Fastned stations will follow in 2021, with the next one planned to be opened in January.

In 2018, the Swiss government announced that it wanted to increase the share of electric vehicles as a percentage of all cars sold to 15% by 2022. In the first 10 months of 2020, 6.8% of new cars sold in Switzerland was fully electric.

Since the company was founded in 2012, Fastned has built 131 fast charging stations across the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and now Switzerland. Additionally, Fastned won a tender this year to develop and operate 9 fast charging stations along key motorways in France.