The European Union needs 8 times more charging points to be installed each year compared to the installation rate in 2023 if it wants to bridge the infrastructure gap and meet climate goals and EV demand, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said in a new report on Monday.
The findings of the report revealed “an alarming gap between the current availability of public charging points for electric cars in the EU and what will be needed in reality to meet CO2-reduction targets,” the industry association said.
In recent years, the pace of EV charging point installation has lagged the growth rate in EV sales in Europe. This has the industry concerned that the ‘infrastructure gap’ risks widening in the future, and widening to a much greater extent than European Commission estimates, according to ACEA.
“We need mass-market adoption of electric cars in all EU countries to achieve Europe’s ambitious CO2-reduction targets,” said ACEA’s Director General, Sigrid de Vries.
This will not happen without widespread availability of public charging infrastructure right across the region.”
Just over 150,000 public charging points were installed last year across the EU, or less than 3,000 per week on average.
However, ACEA estimates that 8.8 million charging points will be needed by 2030. Reaching this would require 1.2 million chargers to be installed per year, or over 22,000 per week. This is eight times the latest annual installation rate, the industry association noted.
“Easy access to public charging points is not ‘nice to have’, but an essential condition to decarbonize road transport, in addition to market support and a competitive manufacturing framework in Europe,” ACEA’s de Vries said.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. utilization rates have jumped to make many EV fast-charging stations profitable. Despite that, the U.S. still needs a lot of additional EV charging infrastructure to alleviate consumer concerns about the range and convenience of fast public charging.
There are about 104 gas pumps per 1,000 road miles on average in the United States compared to just 22 EV charging ports for the same road distance, a study by smart fuel card management platform Coast showed last year.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
