The Swiss Federal Roads Office (ASTRA) is making additional areas available along the country’s national roads for the construction of 55 fast-charging hubs, divided over five plots. Companies are asked to submit their application documents by 12 May 2024.

The procedure is straightforward: The lots will be allocated to the most suitable applicants in the form of a reservation. After signing any reservation agreement for the corresponding lot, a period of three years will be granted for planning the fast-charging hubs and applying for a building permit. Applicants are responsible for the planning, financing, construction, connection, operation and maintenance of the fast-charging hubs.

It is not the first tender of its kind in Switzerland: interested operators could apply for five lots, each with 20 hubs, until December 2018. In March 2019, ASTRA awarded the contract to five companies, including GOFAST and Fastned.

As a result of the tender, “there is already a dense network of fast-charging stations on the national roads – both at rest areas and service stations,” according to ASTRA. The new tender for 55 locations was launched because a nationwide and generally accessible charging infrastructure is “essential” for the switch to electric vehicles.

On the ASTRA website, interested companies can read the exact conditions of participation and look at the data sheets for all 55 plots put out to tender. These contain not only key data on the locations and information on the conditions on site but also an exact delimitation of the plot on a satellite image.