A hot air balloon with the logo of German energy giant E.ON flies at dawn in Ronda, southern Spain, July 21, 2016. REUTERS/Jon Nazca FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German energy group E.ON (EONGn.DE) said it entered a strategic partnership with Denmark’s Clever to build a network of ultra-fast charging stations for electric vehicles in Europe, raising the stakes in a hotly contested part of the power sector. E.ON and Clever plan to build stations with a capacity of 150-350 kilowatt (kW), which can recharge cars with a range of 400 kilometers within 20-30 minutes. The first of these stations will be deployed this year, E.ON said in a statement on Tuesday, adding the group, which operates more than 1,200 charging stations in Denmark, was also in talks with further potential partners. European power firms are keen to be chosen as the suppliers of a car consortium - consisting of BMW (BMWG.DE), Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), Ford (F.N) and Daimler (DAIGn.DE) - to build a charging network in an attempt to break Tesla’s (TSLA.O) sector dominance. Reporting by Christoph Steitz
German energy company E.ON has entered a partnership with Danish electric mobility company Clever to build an ultra - fast EV charging network across Europe . The companies aim to build ultra - fast charging stations with 200 - 300 kW capacities , which will be capable of recharging EVs within 20 to 30 minutes . The companies have ambitions that the charging sites will be placed every 120 to 180 kilometres along motorways , addressing the significant issue of the " range anxiety " experienced by EV owners .