As of the close of 2023, the EU boasts over 630,000 charging stations. Interestingly, the rate of growth of the charging infrastructure has surpassed that of the electric vehicle fleet.
T&E notes that majority of the EU nations have already achieved their 2024 goals for public charging infrastructure one year ahead of schedule in 2023. There are some member states that are slightly behind the curve, however T&E remains optimistic about these countries meeting the planned targets.
Additionally, it appears Hungary, Lithuania, and Portugal are on track to reach those targets by the end of 2024. Meanwhile, Greece and Ireland have more work to do, but they're not out of the race yet. Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta, due to their smaller EV fleets, stand a strong chance of hitting targets with a modest increase in EV charger installations.
In an interesting revelation, the analysis dispels the common belief of a marked divide in electric vehicle infrastructure between Eastern and Southern European countries and their Western and Northern counterparts. In fact, many Eastern and Southern countries have more charging capacity relative to the number of EVs on the road.
Fabian Sperka, T&E's vehicles policy manager, acknowledges that the perceived shortage of charging stations has been a major hurdle deterring people from transitioning to electric vehicles. He emphasizes that governments need to exceed the EU’s minimum targets to encourage more drivers to convert. Among the suggested improvements are installing more charging infrastructure in high-traffic areas and simplifying payment methods. Regulatory enforcement to fix broken chargers is also highly recommended.
Further, under the EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), in effect from April 13, each state has annual targets based on a ratio of total charging power output to the number of electric cars in circulation.
In its report, T&E is urging EU governments to not just stick to the basic requirements of AFIR, but consider five essential factors, including predicting future charging needs to avoid bottlenecks, deploying fast-charging hubs every 60 km along major roads by 2025, implementing fleet-based charging targets in a decentralized way, ensuring charger uptime of at least 98% annually at public locations, and reducing bureaucratic hurdles for grid operators by harmonizing administrative processes across the EU.