First of 400 DC Quick Chargers arrive in Europe

Key transportation corridors to be initial installations

Nissan Europe has announced the arrival of 400 free 400 volt DC quick chargers to be installed in major transportation corridors across Europe.

We first wrote of Nissan’s intent to deliver these units last November. That post highlights additional information, such as the requirement to offer free or discounted availability to Nissan LEAF owners for one year. Based on the signage on the above photo, it looks like free charging it will be. It also stated that installation should begin in February of this year. Oops. While Nissan may not have gotten the units on the ground in time for February installation, they are arriving now. One of the initial goals is to outfit the Paris-Amsterdam corridor, a distance of just over 500 kilometers (300 miles). Even if placed every 25 miles or so, this will absorb only about 12 of the first 400 units. Once looked at this way, one can envision the enormity of the potential of the quantity of these units being deployed.

These Nissan designed units are smaller and less expensive than those offered by other manufacturers. The unit is expected to cost less than €10,000 ($13,000). This should encourage a broad adoption of the unit. An interesting aspect of this press release is Nissan’s announcement that their (unannounced) partners will either sell or manufacturer the unit under license. Target areas for the quick chargers will be roadside services areas, retail shopping malls and airports.

Nissan’s giveaway of these 400 units is designed to jump start the deployment of a large international European infrastructure of quick chargers. The units have been CE and TUV certified for all countries in Europe (similar to UV listing in the United States). We expect that the UV listing is what is holding up the deployment of similar units here. Expect to see more about these quick chargers deployed in the United States in the not too distant future.