Electric charging stations: an additional €200 million to accelerate deployment, announces Clément Beaune

Aurélien Fleurot with AFP 14:05 p.m., October 27, 2023

Two hundred million additional euros will be mobilized by the government to accelerate the development of electric terminals in France, announced to AFP the Minister of Transport, who brings together Friday the actors of the sector with the Minister of Energy Transition. "We are moving up a gear this autumn on the electric car: an additional €200 million to accelerate the deployment of charging stations, reinforcement of the ecological bonus for the most modest, the arrival of social leasing for the middle classes, simplification of retrofitting," said Clément Beaune, summarizing the announcements scheduled for Friday in front of professionals in the sector.

With 110,000 public charging stations installed, a multiplication by 4 in four years, says one in the entourage of the minister, France has begun to catch up. The country, whose transport is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases (32% in 2022), is now the second best-equipped country, behind the Netherlands and ahead of Germany.

400,000 charging stations by 2030

But only 10% of French charging stations are fast-charging, mainly at motorway service areas, even though these devices are considered essential to convince motorists to give up the combustion engine.

President Emmanuel Macron has set a target of 400,000 public charging stations by 2030. At the same time, the number of electric vehicles is expected to increase tenfold, to 13 million, according to projections by Avere, a group of manufacturers in the sector.

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The new €200 million envelope should make it possible to "support the development of fast charging stations" and the installation in "three particular areas: collective housing, on-street charging stations, and charging for heavy goods vehicles", according to Clément Beaune's office. These new credits will make it possible "to finance, for example, charging stations in condominiums", stressed the Minister for Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

The state will be able to finance "up to 50% of the work" to install charging stations in a condominium, the minister said on BFM/RMC, adding that the state could also take charge, if necessary, of "part of the road works if necessary".

"Lower the rental fee to 100 euros for individuals"

At the same time, the ecological bonus granted to the poorest to buy an electric vehicle, currently 7,000 euros, will be "revalued" but "the figure has not yet been arbitrated", says Clément Beaune's office. The tax credit for installing a charging station at home is to be increased from 300 to 500 euros, it adds.

Finally, the decrees setting the rules of the social leasing system, allowing the poorest to access electric vehicles for 100 euros per month, "will be published in the next few days", the firm announces. By combining an ecological bonus and a leasing subsidy, "the idea is to have a very significant aid from the State for the first rent and thus lower the rental to 100 euros for individuals," it was detailed.

Other measures are planned, including a tax advantage for companies to modify the engine of a combustion engine vehicle with electric or hydrogen, known as a "retrofit". In September, 19.1% of new registrations in France were 100% electric vehicles, according to ministry figures.