Well, here's the ugly truth: if you're not a resident of those 'privileged' countries, you're gonna have a hard time charging your EV...
The background: Last week, the European Commission proposed to ban the sale of new “traditional vehicles” by 2035.
This means that, by that date, all new vehicles registered within the 27-country bloc would be battery-powered.
Such vehicles, however, currently make up about a tenth of new registrations in the EU.
But that's not the only issue.
The problem: New research by the ACEA found that 70% of all charging stations in the EU are concentrated in the Netherlands (66,665), France (45,751), and Germany (44,538).
Together these countries make up only 23% of the EU’s total surface area.
This means that the remaining 77% is left with a mere 30% of charging infrastructure, scattered around.
And here are some more disturbing findings.
As the majority of charging stations are located in Western Europe, Eastern and Southern member states are left with... crumbs.
To give you an example, Malta has just 96 chargers and Bulgaria 194. Yep, throughout the whole country.
A socio-economic perspective: The sharp division in charging infrastructure is mainly observed between the richer Western European countries and the lower-income member states in Central, and mostly Eastern and Southern Europe.
Sadly, that’s not really shocking… but rather an expected outcome of the wider economic divide within the EU.
It seems that countries with a lower GDP simply don’t have the means to secure the charging infrastructure required for the switch to electrification.
The adoption, however, of a sustainable transportation model shouldn’t be a privilege, but a right.
If not, then we can expect e-mobility to further enhance the socio-economic divide within the Union and to reinforce a “two-track" Europe.
Want to know more? Read the full story here.
