The 1-megawatt charge arrives at the IONITY network in Europe

One-megawatt charging is no longer something confined to the Chinese market, a topic we only read about occasionally in the specialist media. IONITY has just taken an important step forward to make it a reality in Europe too, by commissioning the first HYC1000 charging systems from Alpitronic.

IONITY, the joint venture founded in 2017 by several of the largest car manufacturers, has announced the installation of twelve charging points with powers close to one megawatt, spread across two stations in France.

This important milestone has been made possible after months of exhaustive testing at IONITY’s own facilities near Munich. And it has not been an easy task. The company had planned to install these ultra-rapid charging points by the end of 2025, but some complications ultimately delayed their commissioning until this month of February.

Location of these ultra-rapid charging stations

The first of these two French stations, already in operation, is located in Maison-Dieu, in the east of the country. The second is strategically situated on the busy A7, known as the Autoroute du Soleil, which links Lyon with Marseille over roughly 306 km along the Rhône valley and Provence. Each site has six charging points connected to an HYC1000 system.

This equipment stands out for being capable of delivering up to 1,000 kW in total. The energy is distributed intelligently among several vehicles or concentrated in just one, reaching a peak of 600 kW. IONITY stresses that this technology will be essential to prepare the ground for the arrival of new-generation electric vehicles, capable of completing recharges at ever higher powers. In this way, it will be possible to recover up to 300 km of range in less than eight minutes. That is, roughly what it takes to complete a petrol refuelling in a vehicle with a combustion engine.

These two French stations with Alpitronic’s HYC1000 systems will not, however, be the only ones available in Europe. In Germany, another is about to open at the new charging park in Werne, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Unlike the French stations, these new installations will have eight charging points, each capable of delivering a maximum charging power of 600 kW.

Following these first stations commissioned in France and the one about to open in Werne, IONITY plans to progressively extend the HYC1000 systems across its entire network, with new installations planned along the main European transport corridors. However, the company has not revealed either the locations chosen for any of them or the planned opening date.