Could more charging stations help increase electric car demand?

Even as electric vehicles (EVs) increase in popularity, the infrastructure to support them is not always keeping pace.

Each year batteries are getting more powerful but the availability and reliability of charging stations remain critical challenges.

There were more than 630,00 public charging points available across the European Union in 2023, with 61 per cent located just in three countries – Germany, France and the Netherlands, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). 

At the same point, there were around three million battery-electric vehicles on the road. 

“We have to have the infrastructure, it’s the chicken and the egg discussion. We’ve had it for 5-10 years,” said Klas Eliasson, an independent EV charging consultant and the founder of Metergram.

“Do we build out the infrastructure or do we wait for the demand to come from the cars first? And I think the easy answer for that is we need both. We need both in that, and I think we’re coming to a point where we find that equilibrium now,” Eliasson added.

Industry insiders say the charging sector will grow.

“I think they’re going to be critical because without charging, the cars won’t run. So it’s going to be ease of access, ease of use, availability. So charge points are needed in private and public places throughout,” said Martin Cooper, the managing director of Eleet EV, a company that provides charging solutions.

Reliability of charging stations

A report recently published by a Finnish EV charging company says one in three EV charging transactions fails.

Communication errors between charging units and backends, often dependent on 4G technology, accounted for 47 per cent of failures, while cable locking issues caused 44 per cent of them.

Experts warn there is a risk early adopters of EVs will return to internal combustion engines if these issues are not resolved.

“Really, it should be easy. We go to a train station and there’s a vending machine, I want to have a bottle of water or a chocolate bar, and it works every time,” said Mikko Summala, the sales director of the EV charging system maker Willbert.

“Why does it not work with these complex machines that cost tens of thousands?” he added.

Charging stations usually require registration on an app, and there’s often a different one for each brand.

Newer ones have a “plug and pay” model where a user can pay easily to charge their car with a single tap of a credit card.

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EU ambition

In 2023, the European Council formally adopted the European Union’s alternative fuels infrastructure regulation (AFIR) to support the electrification needed to reach the proposed 55 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions for passenger cars.

The regulation stipulates that fast chargers with a power output of 50 kW or more must facilitate card payments, while QR codes can also be used for lower-power chargers.

The ACEA estimates that 8.8 million charging points will be needed by 2030 with the current growth of the EV market. 

The European Commission aims to have 3.5 million charging points by 2030, requiring an annual installation rate of 410,000 chargers, almost three times the latest yearly installation rate.

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However, it is not binding for market players, such as EV charger manufacturers and grid operators. Instead, the responsibility falls on EU countries, which are required to incorporate these objectives into their national laws and policies.

“For the member states, that means, above all, that they have to provide a draft policy framework, national policy framework, by the end of December of this year,” Gerd Leutner, a partner at CMS Berlin told an electric mobility media Electrive in an interview earlier this year.

The AFIR states that fast-charging stations of at least 150kW must be installed every 60km along the EU’s main transport corridors from 2025.

However, just around one out of every eight public chargers in member countries is a fast charger, according to the ACEA.

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