If you’re looking for a talking point at your next socially distanced car meet or something to tell your archaic combustion engined friends over coffee, let it be this: there are more than 1 million public chargers installed globally. To put that into some kind of perspective there are less than 300,000 filling stations across Europe and the USA. This is by no means an apples to apples comparison because gas stations have many more pumps than charging points have connectors. And yes, charging still takes longer than filling up a gas tank. But even so, there are far fewer EVs on the road, so the fact that there are over 1 million connectors is kind of a big deal. [Read: ADAS tech remains a blind spot for independent car sellers — and it’s putting lives at risk] In fact, the number of charging points has doubled over the past three years. If that rate continues, charging infrastructure should keep pace with EV sales. Credit: Bloomberg Most of the growth in EV charging points has been in China and across Europe. By outright volume, China is the largest consumer of EVs in the world, so this is no surprise. Half of the world’s EV chargers are in the Asian nation. However, the title for having the fastest growing charging network goes to the Netherlands. Yes, you read that right. Credit: Bloomberg Over the past three years, the charging network in that small orange country has grown faster than China, France, the UK, and even electric vehicle loving Norway. This shouldn’t be entirely surprising, though. The Netherlands is one of the top ranking counties when it comes to EV adoption. As of 2018, eight in every 1,000 cars was electric. However, Norway is still miles ahead with 55 in every 1,000 cars being an EV. So next time someone bemoans the state of EV charging infrastructure, you can tell them that it’s not as bad as they think. If they still don’t get on board, show them how fast it’s changing. Earlier this year, the UK surpassed the 30,000 mark for EV charging connectors installed in the country. Sources: Bloomberg, Statista Europe, Statista USA So you like our media brand SHIFT? You should join our SHIFT event track at TNW2020, where you’ll hear how data, autonomy, and connectivity are fueling the future of mobility. SHIFT is brought to you by Polestar. It’s time to accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility. That is why Polestar combines electric driving with cutting-edge design and thrilling performance. Find out how.
