AUTONEWS

France struggles to implement more charging stations for vehicles

Although electric vehicle sales continue to intensify, the deployment of charging stations remains a major problem in France.

This has been a critical point in France in recent months, with regard to the deployment of charging stations. The government had set ambitious targets for the year 2021, with a target of 100,000 terminals deployed across France by the end of last year. As we know, this goal was unattainable as France had around 57,000 charging stations operational as of last December. That's almost twice less than the advertised goal. Eight months later, the situation is not much better.

A network that is still very weak...According to recent information, France has 66,960 charging stations operational and open to the public. These charging stations are spread over 26,515 stations. Most of these terminals are located in paid parking lots (approximately 37% of the terminals), which require payment for parking in addition to charging.

The other large proportion of charging points (approximately 27% of terminals) are located on public roads or in public places. Stores account for 31% of charging points, a value especially boosted by hypermarket car parks. On the other hand, a bad note for companies that are struggling to deploy a coherent electricity grid for their employees, which has just 2,313 terminals registered in France today.

France thus has 99 charging stations per 100,000 inhabitants.

This is the other point where the numbers are not good, the mains power available at the terminals. France still has few DC charging points. And this, despite the strong demand from users, especially on highways. Direct current charging accounts for just 8% of chargers in France compared to 92% for AC charging.

In detail, direct current charging is divided as follows:

< 50 kW: 1,421 charging stations (2%)

between 50 kW and 150 kW: 1,913 charging stations (3%)

> 150 kW: 1,927 charging stations (3%)

Regarding alternating current charging, it is the most widespread in France, with sometimes long charging times. Charging by alternating current is as follows:

< 7.4 kW: 23,501 charging stations (35%)

between 7.4 kW and 22 kW: 37,978 charging stations (56%)

> 22 kW: 1,371 charging stations (2%)

Which regions are best equipped?...Unsurprisingly, these are the most populated regions and where the most important cities are located where the number of charging stations is greatest. The Île-de-France region thus comes first with more than 12,400 terminals available. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region comes in second with around 7,900 terminals available. Rounding out the podium is the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region with over 6,700 charging points.

The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region has just 5,790 charging stations, just ahead of the Grand Est region with 5,614 charging points.

If the deployment of charging stations is taking place at the national level, many territories are still lagging behind. This is particularly the case in mountainous and rural regions, where the search for a terminal can sometimes become a headache.

At the moment, France currently has sufficient infrastructure to charge electric vehicles in circulation. But according to data from the website AAA-Data, sales of electric vehicles in France increased by 69% compared to the month of July. If they only represent 12% of the global market, electric cars still attract just as much. In particular with the maintenance of conversion assistance.

A situation that could, therefore, cause a major traffic jam at charging stations in the coming months in our country. Traffic jams have already occurred this summer in some motorway areas, where the number of terminals was not enough. The authorities want to reassure and specify that the number of terminals and charging stations will continue to increase sharply in the coming months.

France is expected to have approximately 80,000 terminals by next December. This is still far from the 100,000 charging points announced by the government 2 years ago.

Mundoquatrorodas