Electric Vehicles

Netherlands and Germany Home to Half of EU’s EV Charge Points
Electric vehicle charging stations in Amsterdam. © Wut_Moppie

Netherlands and Germany Home to Half of EU’s EV Charge Points

By Boris Kamchev - Aug 05, 2022

Half the electric vehicle charge points in the European Union are in two countries that occupy only 10% of the bloc’s area, says the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The Netherlands has 90,000 and Germany has 60,000, while the rest are scattered among the other 25 member states.

The Netherlands has almost 1,600 times more charging points than Cyprus, which has the least – just 57. The Dutch alone have as many chargers as 23 member states combined. Eastern states also have fewer charge points and related infrastructure than those in the west. Romania, which is six times larger than the Netherlands, has 0.4% of the EU’s charging points.

“While some countries are powering ahead … the majority are lagging,” said ACEA general director Eric-Mark Huitema. “The stark disparities demonstrate the need for strong AFIR targets that are harmonized across all EU member states.”

To meet CO2 targets, sales of EVs will need to pick up rapidly in all EU countries. Europe needs up to 6.8 million public charging points to reach the 55% CO2 reduction target for cars by 2030. This means growth ramping up by 22 times current levels, ACEA says.

The EU Commission proposed the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation, which calls for 7 million chargers by 2030. Despite steady growth of charging points over the past five years, the total of 307,000 is far short. ACEA thinks that AFIR is not ambitious enough.

“We urge policy makers to reinforce AFIR so that it can achieve the aim of building up a dense European network of charging stations, spanning from north to south and east to west,” Huitema said.

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