Germany plans to install a million public electric vehicle charging points by 2030, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday ahead of a meeting Monday with the auto industry on the impact of the government's 2030 climate law.
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Register NowUtility lobby groups BDEW and VKU warned Monday that charge point targets needed to align with demand and technological readiness.
"We want to create one million public EV charging points by 2030 and here the industry will have to participate," Merkel said in her weekly podcast.
The number of charging points for electric vehicles in Germany has risen over 50% over the past year to 20,650.
Many are barely used due to a sluggish EV rollout, BDEW said.
Utilities operate three out of every four public charge points, according to the association's half-yearly survey.
BDEW estimates 85% of EV charging in future will be at home or work, requiring a switch in focus to private charging infrastructure.
The transport ministry plans to establish a national coordination center for charging infrastructure before end-2019, municipal utility association VKU said.
10 MILLION EVS BY 2030
Monday's auto summit follows last month's 2030 climate action law extending CO2 pricing to the transport sector and applying emission targets to help achieve an overall 55% cut in CO2 emissions on 1990 levels by 2030.
Some 10 million EVs are needed on Germany's roads to achieve this.
The government's 1 million EVs by 2020 target has been moved back to 2022.
Just over 100,000 EVs are currently registered in Germany. Monthly sales trends show 50% year-on-year gains.
European EV sales in the first half of 2019 were up 40% on year at 198,000, compared with an overall 2% decline for EU new car sales, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics monthly EV statistics.
Germany's power grid is prepared to handle up to 13 million EVs, or 30% of the German car fleet, BDEW said. It estimates an increase in power demand of up to 5% as a result.
Research into power demand of electric cars varies, but some experts estimate around 2.5 TWh/year additional demand for electricity from 1 million electric cars.
-- Andreas Franke, andreas.franke@spglobal.com
-- Edited by James Burgess, newsdesk@spglobal.com