It has been a critical moment in France in recent months as far as deployment of charging stations. The government has set ambitious goals for 2021 to achieve 100,000 terminals deployed throughout France at the end of last year. As you know, this goal was unattainable because Last December, France had around 57,000 charging stations. This is almost half the stated goal. Eight months later, the situation is not much better.

The network is still too weak

According to the latest official data, France as of August 1, 2022. 66,960 charging stations are operational and open to the public. These charging stations are common in 26,515 stations. A large number of these terminals are located in paid car parks (approximately 37% of the terminals), which require a parking fee in addition to the toll.

Another large proportion of charging stations (approximately 27% of terminals) are located on public roads or in public places. positive, shops represent 31% of charging points, this figure has increased significantly thanks to hypermarket parking lots. On the other hand, it is a poor assessment for companies trying to deploy a coordinated electrical network for employees with only 2,313 terminals registered in France.

Thus, France has 99 charging stations per 100,000 inhabitants.

Fast charging stations are still too rare

This is another point for which the indicators are not the best – the power of the electrical network available at the terminals. There are still too few DC charging stations in France. And this, despite the high demand from users, especially on autobahns. DC charging accounts for only 8% of chargers in Francecompared to 92% for AC charging.

DC charging is broken down in detail as follows:

• < 50 kW: 1421 charging stations (2%)
• from 50 kW to 150 kW: 1913 charging stations (3%)
• > 150 kW: 1927 charging stations (3%)

As for AC charging, it is most common in France, sometimes with long charging times. AC charging takes place as follows:

• < 7.4 kW: 23,501 charging stations (35%)
• from 7.4 kW to 22 kW: 37,978 charging stations (56%)
• > 22 kW: 1371 charging stations (2%)

Which regions are best equipped?

No wonder it is the most populated regions and where the most important cities are located where the number of charging stations is the largest. Thus, the Ile-de-France region ranks first with more than 12,400 terminals available. In second place is the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region with approximately 7,900 available terminals. The Nouvelle-Aquitaine region closes the podium with more than 6,700 charging stations.

The Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region only has 5,790 charging stations, slightly ahead of the Grand Est region with 5,614 charging stations.

While charging stations are being rolled out nationally, many areas are still lagging behind. This is especially true in mountainous areas and rural areas, where searching for a terminal sometimes turns into a headache.

France is threatened by the success of electric cars

Although the network is still far from the targets set by the government, France remains a good student in Europe about deployment of charging stations. In recent years, the installation of terminals in our country has increased dramatically, and from 2020 to 2021, the number of additional public terminals increased by 7%.
But our country is still far from the investments of the Netherlands, Germany or even Luxembourg and Portugal. Which is problematic. Because only with 4 charging stations are available every 100 kilometersFrance is exposed to too much demand for the number of available terminals.

Currently in France sufficient infrastructure for charging electric vehicles in circulation. But according to the website AAA-Data, sales of electric cars in France increased by 69% compared to July. If they make up only 12% of the global market, electric cars still attract just as much. In particular, with the maintenance of conversion aid.

A situation that could cause major congestion at charging stations in our country in the coming months. Traffic jams were already observed this summer on certain sections of highways, where the number of terminals was insufficient. The authorities want to reassure and specify that the number of terminals and charging stations will continue to increase dramatically in the coming months.

France should have approx 80,000 terminals next December. This is still far from the 100,000 charging points announced by the government 2 years ago.