The European Union must set ambitious targets for the number of charging points. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) writes this in an open letter to the European Commission. According to the interest group, there is otherwise a great risk that the sale of EVs will stagnate due to a lagging infrastructure.
The letter states an objective that is clear: by 2024 the number of charging points in the European Union should be 1 million, while that number should have tripled again to 3 million by 2029. Not only ACEA advocates this, but also the environmental organization Transport & Environment and the European consumer organization BEUC have signed the letter. According to the interest groups, the European Commission would be wise to adopt the set objectives in European legislation. According to them, a directive is too soft, because it is then not binding on the member states. It is proposed to set an individual target for each country. This should send a strong signal to consumers that the infrastructure can keep up with the pace of EV sales. In addition to charging points for EVs, the letter also argues for 1,000 hydrogen filling stations by 2029.
Oliver Zipse, who is BMW’s CEO and ACEA Chairman, said the transition to electric mobility is a different story: “The success of European car manufacturers’ effort to bring electric models to market is now seriously threatened by the delayed installation of charging infrastructure in the EU ”, he says. “The European Commission must take swift action and set binding targets to scale up charging infrastructure in Member States.” Furthermore, the CEO wants to focus more on charging at home or at work, but he does not say how he would like to do that.
Too slow growth
ACEA’s position on European charging infrastructure is not new, however. Last year, the organization also raised the alarm in a report that showed that the charging infrastructure is growing much less fast than the sale of EVs. At the time, there were just under 200,000 charging points in the European Union, of which no less than 25 percent in our country. Particularly in Eastern Europe, the number of charging points still needs to be improved. Whether the European Commission will adopt the proposed target will have to be revealed later this year.