According to The Next Web, as ambitious as this plan may first seem, it might actually turn out to be reality, since in a survey done by the European Invest Bank, over two-thirds of European respondents said that they will opt for a hybrid or electric vehicle as their next car.

While the survey isn't yet a representation of reality, let's just imagine for a second that it becomes true, and probably the first issue that comes to mind is none other than charging.

While for hybrids that are not plug-in this is not an issue, for the rest of battery-powered vehicles it is, and the lack of a proper fast charging infrastructure is what steers away many people still.

The charging infrastructure issue

In fact, as far as the charging infrastructure in the EU goes, 70% of it is concentrated within three countries, France, Germany and The Netherlands.

While apparently the answer would be "just build more charging stations", it turns out that the solution isn't exactly as easy as that.

A report made by the EU in 2021 regarding the charging infrastructure shows that “[the] ultimate policy objective is to make electric vehicle charging as easy as filling a conventional vehicle tank, so that electric vehicles can travel without difficulty right across the EU.”

In the same report it was concluded by the Europe's Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy that there is the need of three million charging stations to be installed in the EU by 2030, the first one million of them by 2025.

Another research done by McKinsey for the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) states that 6.8 million charging stations will need to be installed in order to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030.

The reason for this irregularity when it comes to installing more charging station comes from the fact that charging point rollout currently takes place in a non-binding directive instead of being an EU-wide regulation.

Aaron Fishbone, Communications Chair at ChargeUP Europe, an industry group representing various stakeholders in the charging infrastructure industry, says that "because it is a directive, every country gets to choose how it wants to do this, resulting in a non-harmonized approach."

This directive is now being revised for the European Green Deal, which would mean that it would end up becoming an actual regulation, but there are still some things to take into account before that can happen.cd

Companies need help with installing charging stations

Public charging stations are being installed and managed by private companies, and because there is no planning being done ahead of time, the companies have to find suitable charging locations by themselves, apply for permits and hope that the grid operators will connect the charging stations to the public electrification system.

This process can take years and even result in rejection.

One might think that the grid system may not have enough power to support that charging infrastructure, but the grid operators say it isn't a problem, since they expect around 130 million EVs by 2035, and they should be able to provide the necessary power to refuel them.

Another issue comes in the form of consumer-friendliness, since the charging industry lacks any kind of regularization. The European directive was successful in establishing a standard for charging ports, but it didn't take into account the fact that different charging stations require different subscriptions and apps and they don't inter-communicate for things like charger availability or billing information.

Anna Svensson, Strategy and Business Developer at Polestar, says that "If you’d go from the south of Sweden to the north of Sweden, you need to download four different apps."

Charging station operators also don't always share data regarding charging stations availability or if the station actually works at all.

Companies need to push for more green energy

Then there's the fact that not all charging stations use green energy, with some of them providing the required energy from fossil-fuel based power plants, which kind of defeats the purpose.

In this regard, regulators need to push more for green energy alternatives than for more charging stations alone.

This is important since during the manufacturing process, EVs release more emissions than traditional cars, but through their lifetime they offset these emissions.

If they use a mix of energy, meaning electricity coming from fossil-fuel sources and green electricity, the EV will break even when it comes to its carbon footprint at around 78.000 km, but if it uses green energy exclusively, it will do so at 50.000 km, significantly less distance.

In order to reduce the emissions during the manufacturing process, Polestar is working on the "Polestar 0 project", with the aim to produce a completely carbon neutral car by 2030.

Through producing more green energy and by standardizing the charging process for those vehicles, the EV industry could move further and overcome all the potential issues that might arise.

FastNed is one company that offers EV charging solutions with the ingenious implementation of solar panels right above the charging stations themselves, effectively producing their own electricity for drivers to use in order to charge their cars.