Car manufacturers: there are too few charging stations and fast chargers in the EU – IT Pro – News

The European federation of car manufacturers, ACEA for short, warns that there are insufficient charging stations within the EU. The organization is particularly concerned about the relatively small share of fast chargers in the total number of charging stations.

Not only is there a ‘blatant lack of charging stations’ across the region, according to the car manufacturers, but on top of that, only a small number of them can actually charge cars ‘at an acceptable speed’. The ACEA says that of the approximately 225,000 public charging stations in the EU, only 25,000 are suitable for fast charging. About one in nine charging points is a fast charger, assuming a charging capacity of 22 kW or higher. According to the ACEA, the largest part, so about 200,000 charging points, mostly concerns ‘sockets’ with a low capacity, where the charging capacity is at or below 22 kW.

With such a charging point with a low charging speed, it can take an entire night before an electric car is charged, according to the organization. The ACEA sees this as an obstacle in convincing more and more citizens to opt for an electric car. The car manufacturers emphasize that it is important that people see many charging stations in their daily environment, and that they are also quick and easy to use, without long waiting times.

ACEA wants to appeal to policy makers in the EU and is now doing so as EU national governments and the European Parliament are preparing for and their positions in the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation. This new regulations, which the Commission proposed in July to replace an earlier directive, aims to perpetuate the availability and usability of a comprehensive network for alternative fuels infrastructure. This includes charging stations.

This AFIR regulation is part of the EU’s so-called Fit for 55 package, which includes the target of a 55 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. However, according to the ACEA, the AFIR is not ambitious enough to the aim of realizing an extensive network with many charging stations and many fast chargers. The organization also believes that these regulations are not in line with the proposed new CO₂ targets for cars. ACEA therefore wants the Commission’s AFIR proposal to become a lot more robust, in order to achieve the goal of having enough chargers and enough fast chargers by 2030.

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