Highway: the European Union mandates charging stations every 60 km

The European Union has decided to accelerate the deployment of charging stations on all highways across the continent to break the “dry breakdown” barrier.

The question remains: how to meet the energy needs of hundreds of thousands of electric cars once they have surpassed their thermal counterparts in the coming years? How to manage the flow of travelers on the A6 motorway during a major holiday period like July 15?

The mystery remains, but the European Union is trying to alleviate fears by taking a major decision: requiring operators of so-called “main” motorways to create charging areas along their networks every 60 kilometers by 2025. The effort on infrastructure is therefore enormous to be achieved in less than two years. A gap and a distance of every 100 km will be granted to so-called “secondary” motorways until 2030. Another piece of information: all payments must be possible with a simple bank card without the need to affiliate with a subscription program.

In France, there will soon be 100,000 charging stations, but this will not be enough despite a 63% increase in their number in just one year. The momentum must therefore be maintained… hoping that energy producers can meet the demand. A broad debate…

AHeavy Goods Vehicles Plan Passed

Electrification of the vehicle fleet alone will not be sufficient to achieve the European Union’s decarbonization goals. The new European law will also require accelerating the transition to electric heavy goods vehicles. For this, rest areas will also need to be equipped by 2030 with specific charging capacities: a minimum of 3600 kW every 60 kilometers on main highways, and a minimum of 1500 kW every 100 kilometers on secondary highways.

Finally, a plan for the development of hydrogen for heavy goods vehicles has also been approved: requiring a charging station every 200 km on major European routes and large urban centers.

Will all these decisions allow for smooth travel? Only time will tell.

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