The road networks of European territories still offer very heterogeneous coverage in charging stations. The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany are the best endowed countries. France comes far behind with 4.1 points per 100 km.
The Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA) has analyzed the charging station installations for electrified vehicles in the road networks of the Member States of the European Union. Unsurprisingly, the equipment rate varies greatly depending on the territory. Thus, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, which are small countries, respectively offer 47.5 and 34.5 charging points per 100 km of road (highways, national, departmental roads, etc.). Germany completed the podium (rate of 19.4). In contrast, Lithuania (0.2), Greece (0.2) and Latvia (0.5) remain very largely under-equipped. The same goes for Poland, which admittedly has 1 charging point every 250 km, but whose territory is eight times larger than that of the Netherlands.
Beyond the size of the countries or the relief, the equipment in charging stations is naturally proportional to the market share of electrified vehicles (see table below). These models only account for 1.1% of new car registrations in Lithuania.
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Eighteen countries have less than 5 stations per 100 km
The study shows that ten countries do not have a charger every 100 kilometers of road. Eighteen EU Member States have less than 5 charging points per 100 km, including France (4.1), and four have more than 10 chargers per 100 km.
“Consumers will not be able to switch to zero emission vehicles if there are not enough recharging and refueling stations along the roads they drive., warned ACEA Director General Eric-Mark Huitema. For example, if the citizens of Greece, Lithuania, Poland and Romania have to travel 200 km or more to find a charger, we cannot expect them to be ready to buy an electric car. Massive progress in the deployment of infrastructure will need to be made across the EU within a very short timeframe. The advances made in some Western European countries are encouraging, but they should not make us forget the disastrous state of the charging network in other countries. “
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Infrastructures not in line with the CO reduction objectives2
As a reminder, in the “climate package” presented last July, the European Commission plans the ban on the sale of new cars and light commercial vehicles with thermal engines for 2035. Hybrid models will be eliminated since this trajectory involves a CO emissions target2 zero at this time. In addition, car emissions will have to be reduced by 55% by 2030, then by 100% by 2035.
TO READ. CO2. End of thermal in 2035, announcements from Europe
| Number of charging points per 100 km | Market share of electrified cars (in%) | |
| Austria | 6.1 | 9.5 |
| Belgium | 5.5 | 10.7 |
| Bulgaria | 0.8 | – |
| Croatia | 2.3 | 1.9 |
| Cyprus | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Czech Republic | 0.9 | 2.5 |
| Denmark | 4.4 | 16.4 |
| Estonia | 0.7 | 1.8 |
| Finland | 3.3 | 18.1 |
| France | 4.1 | 11.2 |
| Germany | 19.4 | 13.5 |
| Greece | 0.2 | 2.6 |
| Hungary | 0.6 | 4.7 |
| Ireland | 1 | 7.4 |
| Italy | 5.1 | 4.3 |
| Latvia | 0.5 | 2.7 |
| Lithuania | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Luxembourg | 34.5 | 11.4 |
| Malta | 3.4 | – |
| Netherlands | 47.5 | 25 |
| Poland | 0.4 | 1.9 |
| Portugal | 14.9 | 13.5 |
| Romania | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Slovakia | 2 | 1.9 |
| Slovenia | 1.6 | 3.1 |
| Spain | 1.1 | 4.8 |
| Sweden | 5 | 32.2 |
