As of: March 10, 2024, 11:24 a.m
By: Kai Hartwig
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In addition to buying furniture, you can also charge your electric car for free at Ikea.
In the future you have to pay for it, but there is an advantage.
Munich – The energy transition is making slow progress in Germany.
The Federal Republic is also still lagging behind when it comes to electromobility - especially when it comes to infrastructure.
Charging stations for electric cars are not easy to find nearby everywhere.
However, Ikea customers will find what they are looking for at the furniture manufacturer's branches and can charge their electric cars there for free.
But now Ikea, which recently had to reduce prices due to reduced demand, announced major changes to its charging stations.
Ikea is significantly expanding its charging station network for electric cars – to over 1,000 charging stations in Germany
On Ikea's homepage, in the customer service section, the following is stated regarding the question of whether you can charge your electric car at the furniture giant: “We offer you the opportunity to charge your electric vehicle at every German furniture store.
The charging stations operated by IKEA are all free of charge and draw 100 percent of their electricity from renewable energies.” Only in Berlin-Lichtenberg is there “an additional charging station from Vattenfall, which is subject to a charge.”
However, the free charging of electric cars at Ikea will soon end, as the company announced.
Ikea is planning to significantly expand its electric car charging stations.
© D. Kerlekin/Imago
The reason: Ikea is significantly expanding its charging stations at all branches in Germany.
According to a
Bild
report, which the Swedish furniture store has now confirmed, there will be over 1,000 charging points at furniture stores by 2028.
Construction work will start in 2024.
Once the expansion of charging stations has been finalized, Ikea would have one of the largest and most powerful charging networks in the entire German retail sector.
“At Ikea we want to improve the everyday lives of many people.
This includes finding ways to make more sustainable decisions as easy as possible for them,” said the managing director of Ikea Germany, Walter Kadnar, to the newspaper.
In the future, charging electric cars at Ikea will no longer be free - but it will be much faster
However, Ikea's charging station offensive, whose tricks for sales incentives were recently revealed in a TV documentary, also has a catch.
“With the expansion of charging options, it will no longer be possible to offer free charging,” an Ikea spokeswoman is quoted by the tabloid: “The offer is now no longer just aimed at our customers, but at all electric car drivers.” At least the plan is to keep the prices for charging electric cars “affordable,” the spokeswoman continued.
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In addition, the charging process should be significantly faster in the future than before.
According to information on its own website, Ikea currently offers charging stations for electric cars with a “charging capacity of 22 kW, the exception being Freiburg with 11 kW”.
The new charging stations, on the other hand, will be fast charging stations with 50 kW to 400 kW, which will be powered by 100 percent green electricity.
In addition to electric cars, electric vans should also be able to be charged here.
Ikea is being supported in its expansion of charging options at branches by charging station provider Mer from Norway.
The locations in Chemnitz, Freiburg, Bielefeld, Bremen, Kaarst and Mannheim will be the first branches to receive the new charging stations at the beginning of 2025.
Charging your electric car: Germany has too few charging stations, especially in rural areas
According to the Federal Network Agency, Germany currently has 87,155 normal charging points and 21,111 fast charging points for electric cars
(as of October 1, 2023)
.
However, the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) criticized in November 2023 that there were far too few charging stations for electric car drivers, especially in rural areas.
“In around half (48 percent) of all 10,773 municipalities in Germany there is still not a single public charging point,” complained the VDA, citing figures from July 1, 2023.
Meanwhile, Ikea recently increased the price of a popular classic among its products.
Ikea also tested a concept where customers could pay with time.
(kh)