Four of Europe’s largest carmakers have joined forces to roll out a charging network for electric cars in an attempt to boost sales of battery-powered vehicles and help avoid missing CO2 targets that would leave them facing billions of euros in fines.

Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and Ford on Tuesday said they would build 400 charging stations starting next year, with an ambition of having “thousands” available to electric car customers across Europe by the end of the decade before European CO2 rules come into force.

The scheme, which is not conditional on government funding or subsidies, is expected to cost more than €1bn in total, according to one person familiar with the plans, and the companies hope to spread the costs by bringing in other carmakers in the future.

The companies will be equal partners in the joint venture, and hope the project will create the industry standard for European charging.

Mark Fields, chief executive of Ford, said: “A reliable, ultrafast charging infrastructure is important for mass consumer adoption and has the potential to transform the possibilities for electric driving.”

Sales of battery electric cars, which are essential to comply with the new rules, are still very low at less than 1 per cent of new car sales across the EU, held back by consumer concerns around the availability of charging infrastructure and speed of recharging, as well as the price of the vehicles.

There are currently 1,500 high-speed electric charging stations in Europe with a capacity of 150kW, located mainly in motorway service areas.

The proposed new charge points will have capacity of 350kW, allowing cars in future to charge more than twice as fast.

Although some new electric models, such as the latest Renault Zoe, have ranges of up to 400km on a single charge, this can still require motorists to recharge partway through a long journey.

Many of the cars sold by the carmakers, such as the VW e-Golf, the BMW i3 and the Ford Focus Electric, have a far shorter range.

VW has announced a long-range affordable electric car to go on sale in 2020 as part of an aim to have a quarter of its vehicles battery powered by 2025. Daimler, which owns Mercedes-Benz, has set a similar target.

Unlike the current network of electric refuelling stations, customers are expected to have to pay to recharge in the new sites, in an effort by the companies to claw back the investment in the project.

Rupert Stadler, chairman of Audi, a brand owned by VW, said: “With this co-operation we want to boost a broader market adoption of [electric vehicles] and speed up the shift towards emission-free driving.”

All four car groups are projected to miss their CO2 emissions targets by 2021, according to a report published this week by forecasting group PA Consulting.