LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - Ford and fast

electric vehicle charging network Allego ( ALLG ) said on

Tuesday they would roll out ultra-fast chargers for Ford

customers and public use across many of the U.S. automaker's

European dealerships as part of a new partnership.

Allego ( ALLG ) CEO Mathieu Bonnet said the first chargers should be

installed starting in the first quarter of 2025 and would be in

place at many Ford European dealerships over the next three to

four years. They will be open to all EV owners, he said.

"By enabling any EV driver to charge at these Ford

dealerships, we contribute to better EV penetration," Bonnet

said in an interview.

A lack of charging infrastructure has been seen as a major

roadblock to mass adoption of EVs in Europe and one of the

reasons for slowing demand growth for electric cars.

Allego ( ALLG ) will install charging stations capable of delivering

up to 400 kilowatts charging available to EV drivers around the

clock.

As Allego ( ALLG ) is investing in the charging stations, it will

receive the revenue from the chargers. But members of Ford's

BlueOval charging service will receive preferential rates for

using the chargers.

Joerg Hofmeister, Ford Model e Europe's head of charging and

energy, said the chargers would be focused initially in the

automaker's key markets in the United Kingdom, Germany,

Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain, plus some other smaller

markets like Norway.

Ford has about 1,800 European dealerships, but mostly those

in urban areas or likely to receive high EV traffic will have

ultra-fast chargers installed, Hofmeister said.

He said offering the chargers for public use would help

overcome charging infrastructure challenges and would b bring

the owners of other EV brands in contact with Ford's own

offerings at dealerships.

"It's a great opportunity to showcase our products,"

Hofmeister said.