Europe is experiencing a vicious circle with its charging points. The continent is filling up with plugs. Plugs that are necessary to guarantee the jump to the electric car. Plugs that, however, slow down private companies’ own investments in plugs because they are almost always empty.
The data. Charging points for electric cars in Europe are only occupied for between 30 and 120 minutes on average each day. The data is collected by colleagues Motorpassion and it is in tune with what I pointed out Five Days a few months ago for our country. According to the economic newspaper, each plug is used on average in Spain only 1.5 times a day.
The paradox. The network of charging points in Spain and Europe lives in an important paradox. To make the leap to electric cars, private customers need a safety net with charging points that is up to par. That is, it allows you to recharge wherever you go and with the assurance that there will be enough so that the waits do not drag on forever.
Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised?
That means having thousands and thousands of plugs available… and unused. Right now, Spain has 52,107 charging points available according to the Electromobility Barometer published by Anfac. The problem is that, on average, They are busy for less than an hour and a half a day and that has an immediate effect: companies stop investing.
And without investments in charging points, the doubtful customer is less likely to make the jump to the electric car. And without electric cars that take advantage of the network, the operator does not invest and the wheel never stops. This is, in fact, what Philipp Senoner, CEO of Alpitronic (charging operator with more than 100,000 plugs spread across Europe), complains about. in an interview in Electrive in which he points out that the volume of plugs is oversized for the number of electric cars in circulation.
What you ask for. In his interview, Senoner demands clearer regulatory frameworks from the European Union. He points out that the extensions (more theoretical than practical) that are being given to combustion cars They slow down the progress of operators who consider that the electric car is advancing in the market more slowly than expected.
The manager explains that charging points for electric trucks are focusing on charging power and not so much on the volume of chargers. He points out that, in his case, the sockets dedicated to commercial vehicles are 70% occupied but also makes it clear that “one of the concerns is that the take-off in the market for electric commercial vehicles may be slowed down due to insufficient connections to the network.”
That is to say, from Alpitronic they fall back into the same wheel, in the vicious circle that does not stop. They claim that car plugs are underused but recognize that if truck plugs, which are their most profitable business right now, do not increase, neither will the number of electric trucks.
A paradigm shift. The market situation for operators is complex since with such low occupancy rates, amortizations are expected in the very long term. To begin with, it must be taken into account that the use of an electric car is a paradigm shift in itself.
The great savings with this technology occur when can we plug in the car at home. Thus, the public socket becomes a mere auxiliary object to be used very few times a year. Gas stations, on the other hand, are the only way if we want to use a car with a combustion engine. For example, another fact: 89% of recharges are carried out at home, according to Motorpassion.
The changes are more profound if we take into account that new housing constructions In many cases they arrive with charging plugs, the same happens with large work centers or hotels. Private spaces that take away business from the public outlet. And other uses in which it is passed from the electric station to the shopping center.
But we need them. But in the same way, we need the availability of those plugs, slower in the city and more powerful on the highway. We need them to be available for the long trips we take throughout the year. And those projections indicated that in Spain we needed to reach 91,000 charging points by the end of 2025 if we want to guarantee a good pace of sales of electric cars in the coming years.
And the time will come when, if the plans that the European Union has projected for the coming years are fulfilled, not everyone who buys an electric car will be able to charge at home. At those times it will be necessary to have sufficient network to provide service to those who park their car on the street.
The big question is: who is willing to make those investments?
Photo |
In Xataka | I have experienced first-hand all the evils of electric car charging. These are my tips
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings