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When Walter Bersey’s full-electric taxis first rolled out on London's streets in 1897, they had a top speed of 12mph and a range of 20miles. Thankfully, over the course of 120 years, pure electric technology has moved on - considerably - with today's current crop of electric cars capable of covering hundreds of miles in a day.
Keeping things moving on Europe's motorways is the job of companies like Ionity - a new venture created by BMW Group, Daimler AG (parent company of Mercedes-Benz), Ford Motor Company and the Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche, that's aiming to build a network of 400 rapid chargers across Europe to serve the growing number of electric vehicles.
With Audi, BMW and - as of Season Five and Six respectively -Porsche and Mercedes represented by teams in the FIA Formula E Championship, the formation of Ionity sees the manufacturers take their learnings from the track to the road network.
Aiming to open 20 stations across Germany, Norway and Austria by the end of 2017, the company will build a further 30 by early 2018. With the number of stations rising to 100 over the course of 2018, the company aims to open a total of 400 across Europe by 2020.
With UK domestic three-pin plugs charging at around 3kW, it takes around 12 hours to recharge an electric car but, with charging speeds of up to 350 kiloWatts (kW), the Ionity chargers promise to "significantly reduce charging times compared to existing systems," providing "fast charging and digital payment capability, to facilitate long-distance travel,” says CEO Michael Hajesch.
Did someone say electric road trip?