Europe must spend £17bn on public EV chargers in next decade to hit climate target

Europe needs to spend £17 billion installing three million public EV charging points in the next decade in order to meet its climate targets, a clean transport think tank has said.

A report from Transport & Environment (T&E) estimates there will be some 44 million electric vehicles in Europe in 2030, by which point the continent will need three million public EV charge points if it is to hit the EU target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. Although the UK is set to leave the EU on 31 January, the Government has made its own commitment for the country to meet the 2050 deadline.

• Electric car charging in the UK

At present, Europe has 185,000 public EV charge points, of which roughly 25,000 are in the UK. Although a 15-fold increase to three million chargers sounds like a big leap, T&E claims the yearly spend would only equate to around three per cent of the EU’s annual transport budget.

T&E says the investment must be made in both the public and private sectors, with home and workplace charging prioritised. It adds that between 20 and 30 per cent of the chargers need to be in “disadvantaged and less densely populated areas”.

The think tank hopes the investment will be implemented as part of the European Green Deal - a package of measures set out by the EU to reduce carbon emissions across the continent.

Lucien Mathieu, e-mobility analyst at T&E, 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.”

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