VW’s Stake In Firm Places It Another Step To Becoming Major EV Player

Volkswagen, making good on its promise to become a significant force in the electric vehicle (EV) world, has taken another step toward becoming a major player. Thursday, the automaker announced that it is taking a stake in Hubject, a German company at work on mapping and payment options for EVs.

With the announcement, VW said it is “supporting the digital transformation and making an important contribution to the transition to the era of e-mobility,” Thomas Sedran, VW Group’s head of group strategy said in a statement.

With its stake in Hubject, VW joins other automaker, utilities and engineer groups that are preparing for an expected EV boom in the relatively near firm. VW’s revised strategic planning calls for it to be making 3 million EVs a year by 2025.

Hubject counts not only VW among its owners but also:

• BMW Group
• Robert Bosch
• Daimler
• Siemens
• EnBW
• Innogy

Hubject will receive a fresh single-digit million-euro funding round of its principal investors, Thomas Daiber, the chief executive said.

“That way we can better expand our business in the future …Together with our new shareholder, we will be working at top speed to push forward with interconnecting the charging infrastructure.” A major multi-automaker infrastructure effort was announced last week by VW. EVs have been slow to take off in Germany and other places in Europe, in large part, due to their limited range. EV acceptance has also been limited by the small number of fast-charge EV stations, as well as different payment methods.

This is why leading carmakers, including VW, Daimler and BMW came together last month in an agreement to put thousands of fast-charge charging stations on the ground across Europe to help push EV demand.