Did Volkswagen Forget Romania Is In Europe During Power Day Presentation?

Name: Did Volkswagen Forget Romania Is In Europe During Power Day Presentation?
Uploaded: 2021-03-16T14:00:13Z
Description: The map VW showed doesn’t lie: Romania’s outline can clearly be seen as not being part of Europe on VW's planned fast charging map.

The map VW showed doesn’t lie: Romania’s outline can clearly be seen as not being part of Europe on VW's planned fast charging map.

VW forgets romania v2

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Mar 16, 2021 at 10:00am ET

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During Volkswagen's recent Power day presentation, the automaker put up a map on screen showing showing the entirety of Europe. The map highlighted most of the Old Continent, areas where the automaker was looking to help boost the number of available fast chargers in the next few years, with the help of local partners.

What was a bit odd about the map was that it had a very clear cutout around the country of Romania. Upon closer inspection of the map, it became obvious that Norway was also outside the highlighted area of the continent. This got us wondering what VW meant by deliberately going around the two countries - was this, in fact, deliberate, or was it a slip-up of some sort?

VW forgets romania v2

This is a very peculiar detail that we really don't know what to make of. Norway may not need help with its network of fast chargers (it is a world leader when it comes to electric vehicle adoption), but Romania certainly does; it is lagging behind many European countries in this respect and it could certainly use a helping hand to accelerate the rollout of charging stations equipped with fast chargers.

What do you think?

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The number of new EVs bought in Romania is still relatively small. The country has noticed growth year-on-year, but it's not yet a major market for EVs. Browsing through the press material released for VW's Power Day, we found no mention of either Norway or Romania in any of the blurbs, thus deepening the mystery.

Volkswagen's Power Day 2021 was used to announce the automaker's roadmap from the present day to the year 2030. In regard to its involvement in expanding charging infrastructure, it wants to have 8,000 stations with 150 kW chargers in Germany and the UK, as well as cover most major routes in Italy and Spain (by creating charging stations along motorways).