What's all this about?

One of the main barriers to owning an electric car is, rather obviously, the process of recharging the vehicle once the battery is flat. This gives potential electric vehicle (EV) users 'range anxiety', in which customers are afraid of running out of power a long way away from a charging socket. Plus there's the problem of multiple different providers of recharging stations, all asking for different cards, different methods of payment and so on. It can be quite a mess.

Indeed. So what's the solution?

Well, how about Ionity? Not the name of a musical supergroup, but rather a conglomerate of some of the biggest names in the automotive industry - chiefly, BMW Group, Daimler AG, Ford Motor Company and the Volkswagen Group, which of course includes big names such as Audi and Porsche. These giants have teamed up to create Ionity, a Munich-based company that will develop and implement a High-Power Charging (HPC) network for electric vehicles across Europe.

Fully 400 HPC pan-European stations will be installed by 2020, and 20 are already being put into place this year in Germany, Austria and Norway (in conjunction with Tank & Rask, Circle K and OMV) at intervals of 120km (75 miles). Throughout 2018, the number of these HPC stations will increase to more than 100.

What's so special about them, then?

They offer EV owners the chance to recharge in much quicker times, given that HPCs can put out up to 350kW, and they are 'brand-agnostic' - so you can charge at them regardless of the make of your vehicle or your payment method. It's the manufacturers showing they won't compete for EV custom, instead teaming up to offer their services to make owning an EV look far more tempting.

Sounds intriguing. Who's in charge of Ionity?

As we said, Ionity is based in Munich and it's run by CEO Michael Hajesch and COO Marcus Groll, while the team will grow to 50 employees by the start of 2018. Hajesch said: "The first pan-European HPC network plays an essential role in establishing a market for electric vehicles. Ionity will deliver our common goal of providing customers with fast charging and digital payment capability to facilitate long-distance travel." If you want to find out more about this intriguing venture, go to www.ionity.eu.