Fastned has signed a contract for the construction of its first fast charging station in Italy. The Dutch based fast charging company is thus expanding its activities to the eighth European country. Fastned also announced that it wants to raise money with a new bond loan. The proceeds will be used to expand their network of charging stations.

The contract was signed with the Italian highway company A4 Holding Group. The station will be built along the A4 motorway between Brescia and Padua in northern Italy and will open in 2024. According to Fastned, Italy is an important new market for the company. The country is one of the largest countries in Europe in terms of the number of kilometers of highway. Car density per capita in Italy is also above the European average. Founder and CEO Michiel Langezaal says he is confident that the first charging station in Italy will lead to many more company stations along Italian highways in the coming years.

Italy is also the country where the costs for charging electric cars along the highway are the highest in Europe. The Czech Republic is also one of the most expensive countries according to price comparator Energievergelijk.nl. Luxembourg is the cheapest and the Netherlands is just below the middle bracket.

It was not stated exactly how much money Fastned wants to raise with the new bonds. In June, the company already raised almost 22 million euros with the issuance of new bonds. In addition, investors extended more than 2 million euros in investments from previous issues.