Infrastructure remains a potent factor in EV adoption—the first questions asked by the EV-curious almost always have to do with the availability of charging. Tesla understood this from the beginning, and its Supercharger network has proven to be one of the company’s biggest competitive advantages.

Now Porsche has taken a page from the Book of Tesla, announcing plans for its own network of fast charging stations along the most important European highways. The Porsche-branded network will offer customers “a high-quality, brand-appropriate charging experience,” and will be designed to complement the existing Ionity network, which is run by a consortium of automakers.

“An important prerequisite for electromobility is fast and convenient charging,” says Oliver Blume, Chairman of Porsche’s Executive Board. “That is why we are currently working on the details of a concept for our own fast-charging stations. We will select attractive locations for these in order to offer our customers the most comfortable and fastest long-distance travel experience possible.” Each station will have between 6 and 12 charging points with power levels of at least 350 kW and more. There will be a lounge area with self-service facilities, and access will be controlled via smartphone.

Porsche offered no timeline, and didn’t say if the network would eventually be expanded to North America.

The announcement was only one of several made at the first Volkswagen Power Day. Porsche also revealed that it is researching high-performance batteries with silicon instead of graphite anodes. The new batteries will be produced in Europe and will initially be used in limited-production vehicles and motorsport. Porsche says it is “systematically building up its expertise in the field of cell chemistry for high-performance batteries,” and will “ensure that there is a completely European production chain for high-performance batteries.”

Source: Porsche, Electrek