In 2020, internal combustion engine powered vehicles were responsible for aboutone-fifth of Europes carbon emissions.
While ambitious, this does seem like an achievable goal.
This is great, obviously, but all of these cars will have to be charged somewhere.
These are legitimate concerns, as public charging infrastructure access throughout Europe remains very much lopsided.
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The EU report notes that achieving this electric utopia is a chicken-and-egg problem.
Electric charging infrastructure build-out follows EV sales, and EV sales are slowed down by lack of charging infrastructure.
ChargeUP Europe proposes a number of policy suggestions to take a stab at overcome this conundrum.
Publicly accessible charging infrastructure is largely managed by private companies that build and maintain the chargers.
Europes electricity generators say that capacity is not a problem.
Theyre expecting 130 million electric vehicles by 2035 in Europe, and that should be fine.
Charging frustrations
Consumer-friendliness is another issue that the industry faces due to lack of regulation.
By offering Polestar drivers a card that works at different charging operators, some of this pain is relieved.
But Svensson admits theres still a long way to go, largely because operators dont always share data.
Then you get the issue of availability and reliability of the charging points.
Once you reach one, are there hundreds of others waiting in line?
Is the charging point actually working?
One charger + one charger = two chargers
Another big issue is the charging speed.
It takes a while to charge electric vehicles, especially for longer trips.
But having a 50KW charger every 100 kilometers is a completely different story than having faster 175KW chargers.
And second, because it gives more granular control over where investments in charging infrastructure should go.
But is it green?
But, its important to note that not all charging points are created equal.
While EVs cost more emissions to produce than ICE vehicles, their overall carbon footprint is significantly lower.
But, when using green, wind-based energy, it only takes 50,000 km.
But policymakers are discussing potential options.
But this still requires a lot of work on open standards and interoperability.
Mainly, will EVs currently on the market be compatible with these systems?
Polestar put their Polestar 2 through an independent test lab to ensure it wascompatible with smart charging.
Some actively offer green energy by buying up renewable energy credits.
Others, like FastNed, have solar panels installed on charging stations to generate their own clean electricity.
Were still in the relatively early stages of the market, Fishbone concludes.
EVs are not yet a mass market phenomenon.
The market is clearly going in that direction, and the switch is going to happen.
But were not there yet.
