In 2020, Emmanuel Macron committed to reaching the milestone of 100,000 electric charging stations in France. At the time of writing, this objective is still far from being achieved… But the government is confident and hopes to achieve this goal before the summer of 2023.
With a ban on sales of new thermal cars in Europe from 2035, the governments of many member states are working hard to push citizens to go electric. This obviously involves purchasing aid, such as the ecological bonus in France, without forgetting the development of charging infrastructures.
On this point, Emmanuel Macron made a clear commitment in June 2020: to reach 100,000 electric charging stations in France by 2021. Today, namely this Wednesday, February 8, 2023, the objective is far from being fulfilled.
The milestone of 100,000 terminals by summer 2023
According to a report published by Avere France in early January 2023, the country had on December 31, 2022 exactly 82,107 charging points. If the milestone of 100,000 is still far away, the institution recognizes the effort of the French State to accelerate the pace:
“The objective of 100,000 charging points (open to the public) initially set by the government at the end of 2022 was above all intended to give new impetus to deployments. In this sense, it’s been a success: in one year, we have gone from 53,667 charging points open to the public to more than 80,000. More than 25,000 charging points have thus emerged from the ground in one year, i.e. more than between 2016 and 2020! “, writes Clément Molizon, general delegate of Avere France.
The quality and speed of the network must also improve
Since then, 3,177 additional terminals have been installed in France in January 2023. The government is confident. Olivia Grégoire, Minister Delegate for SMEs, said in a debate in the Senate that the milestone of 100,000 electrical terminals will be reached in the second half of 2023. Be careful however, as Avere France points out, quantity is not everything.
It will be necessary to ensure the quality and reliability of the network. In January 2023, the average availability rate of a charging station was 85%. Another important point, 90% of the existing fleet only offers slow charging, under 22 kW of power. This considerably lengthens the time spent recharging the batteries of its vehicles. If the government wants to push the French to take the turn of the electric, it will be necessary to work on these crucial points. For now, France is the 3rd EU country best equipped with charging stationsbehind Germany and the Netherlands.
Source: Avere