Spain is, today, one of the countries least developed in Europe as far as electromobility is concerned. There are many reasons, but one of the most important is the obvious lack of infrastructure.
He electric vehicle market It progresses as the months go by. More and more cars are sold with this type of technology, yes, but not at the rate it should. He eReadiness report 2022 de Strategy&, PwC’s strategic consultant, is very clear on this.
If we compare our country with our German neighbors, such as Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland… we are far behind in the race to establish what is called electromobility. The study covers different points of view in the form of barriers. One of them, if not the most important and the one that slows down the expansion of the electric car the most in Spain, it is lack of charging infrastructure.
Our country is one of the least developed in this sense, on a par with Italy, far behind countries like Norway and Switzerland, and behind the rest.
Spain, far behind our European neighbors
He Integrated Energy and Climate Plan of our country has the objective of reaching a Electric mobile fleet of 3 million by the year 2030. According to the Anfac and Faconauto associations, to cover such a market, it would be necessary to have at least 340,000 public charging points installed.
How many charging points are there now in Spain? Well, slightly exceeding 12,000compared to almost 42,000 in Germany, 137,000 in the Netherlands or almost 30,000 in France.
Of these, very few are fast charging points, of 150 kW or more: for every 100,000 vehicles, Spain only covers them with 1.3. According to the Strategy& report scale, 5 means «very prepared» and 1 «little prepared».
«Spain has a lot of work to do in the next decade if you do not want to follow the tail of Europe in the transition towards electrification, especially in the field of investments in charging infrastructure »says PwC’s partner in charge of automotive, Manuel Diaz.
Public and private investment, essential
Are needed more efforts by everyone, public administrations and private companiesTo achieve the objectives. Fast charging points are essential so that drivers see the electric vehicle as an attraction for their daily trips, weekends and vacations.
For example, Repsol is investing 42.5 million euros in the Iberian Peninsula to install 610 charging points in its service stations, and thus cover one every 50 kilometers of the main corridors in Spain and Portugal.
Many of the efforts are focused on meeting the needs of drivers on long trips. But, and in the cities? Audi is carrying out a powerful initiative to create what they call “charging hub” in the center of cities.
They have already done it in Nuremberg and Zurichand they just did it in berlin. Salzburg and Munich They will follow before the end of this year, with facilities prepared with four or six fast charging points with up to 320 kW of power.
Fast charging points in Spain
If we look at the main Spanish cities, the figures are worrying as far as fast charging points are concerned, especially if you want to achieve the objectives set.
Attending to the full electromaps mapin the municipal term of Madrid exist alone 10 charging points of 150 kW of power or more. In Paris, for example, there are more than 60, while in Berlin there are at least 80.
Returning to our country, in Barcelona city, we barely found 2 fast charging points of more than 150 kW; in Seville, 6 fast charging points; 2 in Malaga or in Merida; surprisingly, 13 in Saragossa, although only 7 of them are currently listed as operational; and 15 in Burgos capital.
In cities like Valencia or Bilbao We did not find any fast charging point of at least 150 kW in their respective urban areas, although there are some on the outskirts.
If we enlarge the map and look at the provinces or Autonomous Communities, the data improves, yes, but they are not anything spectacular figures. For example, 45 fast charging points in the Community of Madrid or in Catalonia; 26 in Aragon; 57 in Castilla y León; 29 in Galicia; etc
