Electric vehicle (EV) sales have grown across the globe by 55% in the last year but public charging infrastructure has not kept pace, a study claims.
New research from Siemens Financial Services (SFS) estimates the density of public EV chargers is low in some countries, with China having the highest density. European nations such as the UK, France, Germany and Spain currently had less than half of China’s implementation rate.
Density was calculated both as a proportion of the electric vehicle ‘fleet’ (number of public EV chargers divided by number of EVs) and as EV chargers per kilometre of main road.
The report points to the increasing interest in new private sector financing models based on usage, performance, and outcomes to fill the gap. Such financing models are designed to make investment affordable with manageable regular payments typically arranged to match the expected cash flow generated by the charging points, in some cases making the investment budget neutral.
Toby Horne, Siemens Infrastructure Financing Partner, Siemens Financial Services UK, said: “It’s encouraging to see the widespread take-up of electric vehicles and so important that countries urgently move to support this shift with the right infrastructure.
“At its current pace of adoption, EV charging cannot yet meet demand. But intelligently deployed financing can help to accelerate investment and contribute to more sustainable road networks worldwide.”
Image courtesy of Siemens Financial Services
