Three million public electric car charging points will be needed by 2030 if the EU is to meet its promises of carbon-neutrality by 2050. That's according to environmental lobby group and think-tank, Transport & Environment (T&E).
185,000 charging points across the EU today
Currently, across the EU, there are 185,000 public chargers, but T&E says that while this is enough for the current fleet of electric cars on the road, a huge investment and building programme will be needed to keep pace with increasing EV demand this decade.
In fact, Europe will have to invest an estimated €20 billion for the next 11 years to meet the projected demand for public charging points. That's €1.8 billion a year, which divvied up between the 26 EU countries, perhaps doesn't sound so bad. Indeed, T&E points out that the number is just three per cent of the annual EU spend on road infrastructure right now.
Ireland could have 28,000 chargers by 2030
Ireland, according to T&E's projections, should be in line to have just over 10,000 public charging points (up from around 1,500 today) by 2025, and almost 28,000 by 2030, to feed an Irish Government pledged one million EVs on the road by 2030.
Home and workplace charging must be prioritised, and between 20-30 per cent of these chargers will need to be in disadvantaged and less densely populated areas to ensure everyone benefits from zero-emissions vehicles, said T&E.
Push needed to meet the 'Green Deal' for transport
Lucien Mathieu, e-mobility analyst of Transport & Environment, said: "The Green Deal for transport can only happen with zero-emission infrastructure. This means putting money into setting up the network of public chargers, especially at home and at work, and not in building more fossil gas pipelines. So far the number of charging points has kept pace with demand, but the coming electric surge needs to be supercharged by vastly expanding the charging network.
"The shift to EVs will create a multi-billion euro market opportunity for European industry in the grid works, and manufacturing, installation and maintenance of public charging. The EU must do everything it can to fight the climate emergency while supporting jobs in Europe."
According to T&E's research, transport is Europe's biggest climate problem, representing more than a quarter (27 per cent) of the bloc's total greenhouse gas emissions. Cars emit 44 per cent of transport CO2 emissions and their impact is still growing. To realise the ambition of the EU Green Deal, Europe will need 40 per cent of new cars to be zero-emissions in 2030, and will need to sell the last combustion engine car by 2035 at the very latest.