Electric vehicle manufacturers continue to increase EV range while also decreasing charge times. Even as the industry pushes to develop new technologies year after year, the lack of infrastructural support will only thwart those efforts. The European Union understands the bottleneck that the insufficient charging station implementation poses, and the latest proposal aims at remedying the situation.
Following the 2022 Presidency of the Council of the European Union (PFUE) meeting in France in June, 2022, the European Ministers of Transport suggested mandatory targets for all member nations. The new legislation would require a 60-kilometer (37-mile) maximum distance between all EV charging stations installed along the entire European network. However, the bill doesn’t provide a practical solution for adopting the new charging stations, with the responsibility falling to the 27 individual E.U. countries.
Each charging module would also need to achieve a minimum power rating of 150 kW for fast charging capabilities. If enacted, member states would need to adhere to the new regulations on all trans-European routes by 2025, and roll out similar changes to the entire network by 2030. The legislators didn’t stop at sheer numbers and availability either. The new restrictions would also establish terminal standardization, with universal charging adapters and a unified payment system that simplifies the customer process.
If we learned anything during our time with the 2021 LiveWire One, it’s that there’s a wealth of public charging options, but separate companies, platforms, and payment methods muddy the waters. Standardizing the charging station availability, power output, and ecosystem would certainly streamline the charging procedure and remove barriers to adoption.
The latest regulations fall within the E.U.’s "Fit for 55" framework, which aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 55 percent by 2030. However, the European Parliament would need to approve the plan before it becomes a new law. With the final Council of Europe meeting of the year taking place in September, it seems like we won’t know the fate of the proposed bill for a few more months.