I have been following the European market for electric cars and EV chargers for ten years. We have organized conferences on charging electric vehicles in Europe. Nevertheless, I was shocked to see the figure that just emerged from an EU analysis of EV charging conducted by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) – “half of all electric car charging stations in the European Union are concentrated in just two countries!” Those countries are the Netherlands (90,000 charging points) and Germany (60,000 charging points).
It is important to remember that some of the largest EV markets in Europe are not located in the European Union. Norway, the UK and Switzerland are not EU members. Yet a 50% market share for charging electric vehicles in only two EU countries is a clear sign of the huge imbalance in the European electric vehicle market. These two countries cover less than 10% of the total area of the EU European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) points out. “The other half of all chargers are spread over the other 25 countries, accounting for 90% of the area of the region.”
The Netherlands has long been known as a sort of “EV charging paradise” by those who follow these trends closely, including ours. Maarten Vinkhuyzen, who may have coined that term for his homeland. I remember a few years ago, while Norway was way ahead of the Netherlands and other countries in EV sales, it had about the same number of charging stations as the Netherlands. This led to major charging challenges in Norway, while Dutch drivers of electric cars largely had it smooth sailing.
Within the EU, “The Netherlands has almost 1,600 times more charging points than the country with the least infrastructure (Cyprus, with only 57 charging points). Indeed, only the Dutch have as many chargers as 23 Member States combined.” Of course some of those countries like Cyprus are quite small and have much smaller populations, but the Netherlands isn’t particularly bigger either, the overall picture is dramatic.
“When it comes to infrastructure distribution, there is a clear split between Central and Eastern European countries on the one hand and Western European countries on the other. For example, a large country like Romania – about six times larger than the Netherlands – has only 0.4% of all charging points in the EU.”
The key point is not that the Netherlands is really overflowing with charging stations for EVs. The thing is, most of Europe is lagging behind what it takes to support strong EV growth. “While the number of charging points in the EU has increased sharply over the past five years (+180%), the total number (307,000) is far below what is needed.
ACEA references an investigation It shows that by 2030, 6.8 million public charging points for electric cars may be needed to meet the EU target of a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions from cars. The quick calculation shows that 22 times more charging points will be needed by 2030. “The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) – proposed by the European Commission last year – aims to address the situation. However, the level of ambition is completely insufficient, ACEA says.”
“While some countries are at the forefront of infrastructure deployment, the majority are lagging behind,” said ACEA Director General Eric-Mark Huitema. “The large differences demonstrate the need for strong AFIR targets that are harmonized across all EU Member States.”
“We urge policy makers to strengthen AFIR so that it can achieve the goal of building a dense European network of charging stations, north to south and east to west.”
ACEA also shared top 5 rankings for most and least number of EV charging points:
Top 5: Countries with the MOST Chargers
- Netherlands (90,284)
- Germany (59,410)
- France (37,128)
- Sweden (25,197)
- Italy (23,543)
Top 5: Countries with the LEAST chargers
- Cyprus (57)
- Malta (98)
- Lithuania (207)
- Estonia (385)
- Latvia (420)
“All charging infrastructure data is from the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) and is the latest full year (2021) figures: https://alternative-fuels-observatory.ec.europa.eu/transport-mode/road/european-union-eu27/country-comparison†
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