A listening to earlier than the European Court docket of Justice within the case of Fastned Deutschland and Tesla Germany in opposition to Autobahn GmbH was scheduled for 9 July. The listening to turned vital after the Düsseldorf Greater Regional Court docket determined in June 2023 to refer sure questions relating to the admissibility of amendments to present concession agreements to the European Court docket of Justice for clarification.
When requested by electrive, the events concerned had been tight-lipped concerning the course of the listening to. Requests for remark had been both not answered or solely with common, considerably evasive statements. Fastned, for instance, stated: “We hope that the listening to earlier than the ECJ on 9 July 2024 will end in a immediate choice by the court docket primarily based on the competitors ideas of EU and German regulation. The Düsseldorf Greater Regional Court docket will then resolve primarily based on the ECJ judgement.” Solely when requested did the Dutch firm supply a short evaluation: “Now that the EU Fee agreed with our view, we’re assured concerning the subsequent steps. Our aim is a ruling in our favour and, subsequently, in favour of all electrical travellers.”
In different phrases, no person desires to get forward of the ECJ judges and go too far out on a limb. A ruling from Luxembourg is anticipated this autumn. The Düsseldorf Greater Regional Court docket, the place the related case is being heard, should situation a judgement primarily based on the ECJ ruling. That isn’t anticipated earlier than spring 2025 – round two years after the preliminary lawsuit.
The background to the advanced authorized dispute is that greater than 90 per cent of motorway service areas in Germany are operated by the franchise holder Tank & Rast. The contracts date again to the privatisation of the service stations in 1998. The main focus of the authorized dispute is a contract awarded by Autobahn GmbH to Tank & Rast two years in the past for the set up of quick chargers on the motorway service stations. Tesla and Fastned sued as a result of Autobahn GmbH had not initiated a proper tender course of, they usually, too, wished to construct charging parks on the motorway. The truth that the federal authorities has given its concessionaire Tank & Rast the area for charging factors just about freed from cost additionally brought on resentment.
“Autobahn GmbH and Tank & Rast reached an settlement in 2022 to increase present concession agreements for petrol stations to incorporate quick charging. This is able to keep Tank & Rast’s de facto monopoly place at motorway service stations sooner or later, together with relating to quick charging,” Fastned reiterates within the present assertion. “We’re contesting this settlement as a result of we consider that the fitting to function quick charging at German motorway service stations needs to be put out to tender freely and transparently for all market contributors as a substitute of being awarded straight to at least one social gathering.”
Final yr, when the Düsseldorf Greater Regional Court docket referred the elemental inquiries to the ECJ, Fastned already said that such an extension of the proceedings was not within the firm’s pursuits – however the step was described as “procedurally vital.” In March 2024, it turned identified that the federal authorities’s Autobahn GmbH and Tank & Rast had briefly frozen the additional enlargement of charging factors at motorway service stations. With the freeze, Autobahn GmbH desires to minimise the chance of an costly reversal – if the charging stations constructed since 2022 are declared unlawful.
This had some curious penalties. For instance, Tank & Rast changed outdated triple chargers that had been on the finish of their service life with new Alpitronic HYC300 hyperchargers. The 300 kW columns are restricted to 50 kW charging energy, so that they fall beneath the beforehand relevant laws. When the go-ahead is given for the preliminary electrical truck charging community, the federal authorities will skip the managed motorway service stations in the interim, and it’ll make do with truck charging parks at unmanaged automobile parks till the matter has been legally clarified.
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