Going on vacation in an electric car: a big hassle or a simple procedure? The summer of 2023 was a great test for the French charging station network, which had just passed the 100,000 charging point mark and with solutions available in almost every motorway area in the country.
A sales boom to put into perspective
But, at the same time, sales of electric cars have skyrocketed: in total, there are about 1.5 million “plug-in” cars: two thirds 100% electric cars and the other third rechargeable hybrids. But not all of these cars go on vacation: in the top 6 sales in France since the beginning of the year, models like the Dacia Spring, the Peugeot e-208 or the Fiat 500e are more intended for short trips.
In this context and in general, user feedback remains quite positive, with few traffic jams at the station to charge the vehicle:
“Some areas could suggest that there would be congestion, especially in Montélimar. On the contrary, we have observed waiting times of a maximum of 5 to 10 minutes, which are often less than waiting times at a fuel station,” he explains to BFMTV. Pascal Hurau, president of the FFAUVE user federation.
A logical spike for the number of upload sessions.
Regarding charging station professionals, logically we have seen a strong increase in connections:
“We had more than four and a half times the number of charges than last summer. And compared to June, there was an 80% increase, which reflects a real enthusiasm around the electric car and we can see that the network has really been to follow,” stresses Matthieu Dischamps, CEO of charging operator Powerdot.
The same trend among the giants in the sector, such as Engie or Totalenergies. The latter evokes a number of recharges multiplied by three compared to last summer, that is, 10 times more for the startup Electra.
The challenge continues to be maintaining a high rate of deployment of new terminals to keep up with the evolution of the car fleet. The ratio of the number of electric vehicles (including rechargeable hybrids) to a charging station is currently 13.4 in France, up from 14 in 2021.
Although electric car sales should continue to grow, the new course for France is to aim for 400,000 terminals by 2030.
Source: BFM TV
