Volkswagen’s newly launched WeShare car sharing service in Berlin will be able to additionally charge its cars at Lidl and Kaufland supermarket chains, following a strategic partnership.

The additional charging points at Lidl and Kaufland outlets will boost the public charging infrastructure in Berlin by almost 20%

140 public charge points are to be installed at the supermarkets, which the WeShare fleet of 1,500 e-Golf, and by 2020 500 e-up!, electric cars will be able to make use of the chargepoints when the supermarket is closed overnight.

The additional charging points at Lidl and Kaufland outlets will boost the public charging infrastructure in Berlin by almost 20%.

Christian Senger, member of the board of management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand responsible for Digital Car and Services, said: “Supermarkets are the filling stations of the future. Charging while you shop is an ideal solution. On average, just 45 minutes at a fast charging station are sufficient for an e-Golf.

“Together with Lidl and Kaufland, we are improving charging possibilities for customers and especially for our WeShare fleet. This is the next consistent step by Volkswagen in its efforts to provide area-wide coverage with charging points in public spaces via partnership arrangements.”

Wolf Tiedemann, Head of Central Services, Lidl Deutschland commented: “We want to shape urban mobility. With our many locations on major traffic nodes in Berlin, we can develop a city-wide network of charging stations. During the daytime, our customers will benefit from the growing number of charging points and we will make a meaningful contribution to the mobility transition in Germany.”

Jörg Dahlke, Head of International Construction with Kaufland said: “Car sharing with electric vehicles definitely needs to be supported. This is why we are very pleased to make our existing charging stations available to the WeShare fleet outside our opening hours. This way, more people will benefit from this environmentally compatible technology. This is entirely in line with our own e-mobility strategy.”

Volkswagen believes the electric vehicle charging demographic will be divided between 50% charging at home, 20% at the workplace, 5% along motorways and 25% in public spaces.

To address the home and workplace chargers, Volkswagen is already working on installations via its Elli subsidiary, and it is also a partner member of the rapid-charging Ionity network aimed at addressing motorway charging.