Spain needs 16,000 more plugs for the electric car to be a viable option: there are currently only 12,700

The electric car sales figures continue to make clear the existing inequality between Spain and Europe. In the Old Continent, electricity has for the first time exceeded one million units sold and, most importantly, its market share has grown to 11.4%. In Spain, however, electric vehicle registrations have grown by 32.14% and, despite everything, its market share barely represents 2.76%, very close to 2.11% in 2020. The manufacturers they blame this data on insufficient infrastructure. The last to confirm it has been Wayne Griffiths, president of Seat.

In Anfac, where Griffiths is also president since this month of January, they assure that 28,000 public outlets would be required today to fulfill the promises made in the future. These figures are very far from the 12,702 public charging points that the association itself collects in its last count.

With this data, Griffiths ensures that the plans will not be able to be fulfilled that the Volkswagen Group has for its Martorell plant. The objective is manufacture 500,000 electric cars each year in 2030 but, without sufficient penetration in the national market, the CEO of Seat assures that it is impossible to reach these figures.

More chargers and much faster

The griffiths words point out the great mole of the electric car in our country: it does not have a noticeable presence in the market. If plug-in hybrids are added to the electric ones, “zero emissions” cars that also need a plug to get the best of themselves, the market share would remain at 7.8%, far from the 10% of the European average and that according to Seat it is necessary to ensure safe manufacturing in the Martorell factory.

And to reach these figures, Anfac points to a very clear problem: infrastructure is insufficient and it is poorly distributed. In mid-2021, Spain had 245 public charging points for every million inhabitants. Far from the figures for Germany (567 points), France (686 points) and the European average (573 points). Comparisons with the Netherlands (4,760 points) or Norway (3,588 points) fall under their own weight.

But there is another endemic problem in our country that, let us remember, wants to have ready between 80,000 and 110,000 public outlets by the end of 2023, according to government plans. 83% of current plugs are slow charging, less than 22 kWh, which means charges of more than three hours in most electric vehicles on the market.

The number of recharging points above 250 kWh in the main corridors, key when implementing the electric vehicle and guaranteeing comfort during trips, shows that a significant investment is lacking. For example, 600 kilometers without this type of plugs separate Madrid and La Coruña along the A-6. In the entire route of the A-66 we only find six outlets that support 250 kWh and many provinces lack this resource.

Photo | Kindel Media and Anfac