Overbuilding the public charging network could make it financially unviable

Analysis from T&E, Europe’s leading NGO campaigning for cleaner transport, predicts a need to increase the number of public electric vehicle charging points across Europe from 340,000 today to 5.1 million in 2030 and 10.4 million by 2035. 

However T&E’s analysis identifies that the very high numbers of public chargers proposed by the European car industry lobby – 31 million public chargers by 2035 – risks “massively overbuilding” the electric vehicle charging network, creating the need for “public subsidies on a continuous basis”.

T&E says the car industry targets are based on unrealistic assumptions that 60% of charging will be public and that the average electric vehicle in 2030 will be less efficient than today’s models. T&E thinks the vast majority of charging will continue to be done using private chargers at home and work.

And with 31 million public chargers by 2035, T&E says that public chargers would be used less than one hour a day – far below the 3.6 hours needed to be financially viable, according to the car industry’s own report.

Fabian Sperka, vehicles policy manager at T&E, said, “The more the merrier does not apply to the charging business. Massively overbuilding the charging network, as some in the car industry demand, is unnecessary and would require taxpayers to foot the bill. Europe can have up to 10 million public chargers in place to meet the needs of the expanded electric car fleet by 2035 and have a financially viable network. Unrealistic infrastructure demands should not get in the way of ambitious car climate targets.”

Notwithstanding this warning, T&E says EU lawmakers can increase the ambition for the growth in the number of electric vehicles beyond what the European Commission has proposed in the confidence that there will be enough charging points.

“Public charging is a key concern for drivers, and governments will be required by law to address this by expanding national networks in line with the electric car fleet. But European lawmakers don’t need to hold back on setting higher car CO2 targets for fear of a lack of charge points,” says Sperka.