The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) have concluded that the charging infrastructure in Europe is insufficient to meet growing demand for electric vehicles, and remains concentrated in specific countries.
The ACEA’s conclusions are explained in detail in its ‚Making the Transition to Zero-Emission Mobility – 2020 progress report‚, which was published earlier today.
The report finds that 80% of all electric cars sold in the EU and the UK are sold in just 6 countries, with Poland, Greece, Slovakia, Estonia and Lithuania each representing less than 0.5% of the total market share. When it comes to charging stations, 75% of them are currently located in 4 countries alone; Germany, the Netherlands, France and the UK.
The ACEA have thus called on governments in the EU to work harder to build more charging stations:
In order to drive the shift to zero- and low-emission vehicles, governments across the EU need to ramp up investments in charging and refuelling infrastructure, and need to put in place meaningful and sustainable incentives to stimulate sales of alternatively-powered vehicles.
Figures contained in the report show that 3.0% of all cars sold in 2019 were electrically-chargeable (+2.4 % increase since 2014). Meanwhile, 5.9% of new cars in the EU were hybrid electric last year (+4.5 % points over six years).
Although this increase has led to growth in electric charging infrastructure in Europe, the ACEA say the total number of charging points available across the EU (199,825) „still falls far short of what is required.” They also stress the fact that just 1 in 7 points in the EU is a fast charger today.
When it comes to hydrogen, the report states that there are 137 hydrogen filling stations across 12 EU member states, but 16 countries do not have any at all.
Crucially, the ACEA’s data proves that the number of charging points is growing noticeably slower than sales of electrically-chargeable cars. Sales of electrically-chargeable cars in the EU increased by 110% over the past three years, but the number of charging points grew by just 58%.
The ACEA’s Director General, Eric-Mark Huitema, described the trend as being „potentially dangerous.”
“This is potentially very dangerous, as we could soon reach a point where growth of electric vehicle uptake stalls if consumers conclude there are simply not enough charging points where they need to travel, or that they have to queue too long for a fast charger.”
Although the above sales figures relate to cars only, the lack of growth in charging stations will likely be taken into consideration by Europe’s carriers and hauliers, who are set to make big vehicle procurement decisions in the coming years. The problems presented by a lack of charging infrastructure could therefore be enough to sway bosses into holding back purchases of electric vehicles.
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