Electra’s 600 kW chargers are impressive. They will not solve Europe’s charging problem.

The real infrastructure problem is not charging speed. It is access.

Millions of Europeans live in cities without private parking or home charging. They do not need one megawatt. They need a reliable, reasonably priced charger near their home, workplace or supermarket.

For most urban locations, 250 kW is already more than sufficient.

Even on motorways, I expect most demand to remain around that level. An 80 kWh battery charging from 10% to 80% theoretically needs about 13 minutes at 250 kW, six minutes at 600 kW and three minutes at one megawatt. In reality, the difference will be smaller because cars cannot maintain peak power throughout the session.

Most people will not drive farther to save five or ten minutes.

Of course, 600 kW has a role. A professional travelling across Europe may value every minute. A taxi driver may prefer 250 kW because charging is also a necessary break.

And XPENG’s planned megawatt charging? It raises the same question as NIO’s battery-swapping network: an impressive technology, but will there be enough vehicles and utilisation to justify the dedicated infrastructure?

Europe needs a dense, reliable network of 250–350 kW chargers far more than a few spectacular megawatt sites.

The most important charger is not the fastest one.

It is the one available where people actually need it.