Huge increase in EV charging points needed

Three million public charging points will have to be available by 2030 in order to sustain the rise in electric vehicles needed for Europe’s long-term climate objectives, according to a new report by campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E).

The report assumes 44m electric vehicles are on European roads by 2030. That means a fifteen-fold increase on the 185,000 public chargers currently available in the EU, the research found.

Both T&E and the Commission agree however that around 13m electric vehicles will be on European roads by 2025, although the EU executives also include “low-emission vehicles” such as hydrogen fuel cell cars into the mix.

But the number of charging points is not the only challenge. Other important changes also need to happen on the side of the electricity grid and the organisation of power markets and digital payment systems.