Five electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging station networks have joined forces.

The Open Fast Charging Alliance (OFCA) aims to enable seamless, long-range travel in a battery-powered car across Europe.

It hopes to achieve this by allowing members of any of the firms involved to top-up their vehicles at any of the other companies’ charge points.

This is known as bilateral roaming and will give drivers access to a total of around 500 chargers across the continent.

The businesses forming the alliance are Fastned (The Netherlands), Sodetrel (France), Smatrics (Austria) Grønn Kontakt (Norway) and GOtthard FASTcharge (Switzerland).

The majority of major car brands are now working on EVs that can travel at least 400 kilometres – if the green driving sector is to continue to grow, the OFCA says these cars must be able to recharge quickly and conveniently.

The alliance is open to other networks as long as they share the group’s goals and are committed to providing 24/7 customer service to ensure maximum network uptime.

E.ON and CLEVER also aim to unveil new ultra-fast charging stations for EVs across Europe.