EVwire brief: E.ON Drive Infrastructure (EDRI) has acquired 100% of SMATRICS EnBW Italia, with the E.ON Group's charging arm picking up four operational high-power charging hubs and 64 charging points in Northern Italy.
The hubs sit along the Scandinavian-Mediterranean and Mediterranean TEN-T corridors, which link Italy with Central Europe and the rest of the continent's core transport network. Here's how the 64 ultra-fast charging points are split across the four sites:
Brixen-Vahrn, South Tyrol: 20 charging points on the Brenner corridor
Gruaro, near Venice: 16 charging points between the A28 and A4 motorways
Trezzo sull'Adda, near Milan: 16 charging points along the A4 motorway
Palmanova, Udine: 12 charging points on the Alpine-Adriatic corridor
Thinking of getting an EV, selling yours, or need EV accessories and adapters?
Check out our fresh EVwire EV Deals page for the discounts we've gathered.
EDRI noted that the sites come with high available grid capacity, leaving room for future expansion or technology upgrades. The company announced the deal on LinkedIn, describing it as part of a bigger cross-border push:
"For us, this acquisition is more than adding charging points. It is another strategic step towards creating a reliable, high-performance charging network that makes electric mobility easier across borders."
By the way, it sure looks to us like you are an EV geek like ourselves.
Which means you belong with us: join 14,700+ reading our newsletters: subscribe
Context:
EDRI is the E.ON Group's pan-European charge point operator, running more than 10,000 public charging points across 11 European countries with a team of over 200 employees. In Italy, the company develops, builds and operates public high-power charging along the country's main road corridors, and its Italian plans center on 104 ultra-fast charging points, integrated with solar and battery storage, across 18 motorway service areas. EDRI isn't the only player building out Italy's highway charging, with Renault's Mobilize having invested in Free To X to expand fast charging in the country.
The SMATRICS EnBW deal fits that motorway-first approach, as all four acquired hubs are already up and running on cross-border freight and travel routes. Michele De Gaspari, EDRI's Regional Director Southern Europe, called the acquisition "a strategic step in the growth journey of E.ON Drive Infrastructure Italy," adding that the goal is to "make high-power charging more accessible and reliable."
DIG DEEPER: For more charging coverage, check out our Chargingwire. If you have not already, join 14,700+ EV geeks getting our newsletter: subscribe.
