Breaking barriers to democratise electric mobility

If Europe is to meet its emission reduction targets in 2030, there must be 35 million electric vehicles circulating by that date, one million of which should be circulating in Spain. And to supply these vehicles with electricity, 2.8 million charging points will be needed. This is one of the conclusions of the 'Electro-mobility and Climate Change' Conference which, within the framework of COP 25, was organised by the Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Automóviles y Camiones (Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers - Anfac), with Aelec and the Asociación Española de Proveedores de Automoción (Spanish Association of Automotive Suppliers - Sernauto).

The Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto, who officially opened the conference, announced that the Government is convinced that Spain will be able to develop battery projects, not only under the auspices of the European battery alliance where it is working on a second project led by Germany, but as a “Spanish project”.

All the speakers agreed upon the need to take measures to boost emissions-free mobility in Spain, which will contribute to implementing a structural country plan, with measures such as reduced VAT for cars with this technology and the roll-out of a fast charging network.

In this regard, Josep Trabado, general manager of Endesa X, said that user training and information are essential to the entire process. “When users leave a dealership having purchased an electric car, they should already have resolved the private charging issue and, in addition, be confident that they can also charge on the public road system. We have committed to installing 8,500 charging points by 2023. The first 2000 will be ready next year. We want to be the market enablers,” said Trabado.

Endesa X has committed to investing €65 million to roll out the charging network. According to Josep Trabado, "regulations on installation of this infrastructure on public road systems needs to be more agile, because operations are often delayed because of red tape and applications for permits, license changes, etc.".

The general director of Endesa X also wanted to stress the need for regulatory change in terms of the power term associated with chargers, because "it makes no sense to pay a fixed term, regardless of whether or not it is used." And when talking about charging points with high power levels it can be a big pitfall. For example, a 350kW, charging point can have €40,000 of fixed costs per year. With an estimated average charge costing €8, you would need 5,000 charges to make the charging point viable.

Regulatory flexibility is essential for registering new charging points on roads or highways where there are no existing electrical facilities and which involve installing the infrastructure, says Trabado. This has caused the European network IONITY to reduce the number of points it wants to install from 40 to 23.

Marco Toro, general manager of Nissan Spain, said that "for every 29 consumers who consider buying an electric car, only one decides to do so, meaning that something is wrong." We’re talking about the famous entry barriers: price, autonomy and charging. And all three are on the way of being solved.

"The manufacturers are exhausted with the low margin of electric cars, we have made a great effort and it will be difficult to lower the price because, what’s more, batteries are a very scarce commodity worldwide," said the CEO of Kia Motors Iberia, Eduardo Divar. In light of this, the government has a very important role. If you want to decarbonise you have to invest. This should not be the manufacturers’ burden", added the Kia executive, who is sceptical that a million electric vehicles will have been sold in Spain by 2030. There are currently fewer than 30,000 on the road.

In this regard, the CEO of Mitsubishi Spain, Jorge Belzunce, said that car manufacturers are "ready" to facilitate emissions reductions, their sector is considered "the only one" that has been forced "to pay in advance for the CO2 footprint of all its products".

Meanwhile, the general director of Renault Iberia, Jean-Pierre Mesic said that he is "surprised" that Spain is so "far behind France or Norway" in terms of the proportion of electric vehicles.

"The sector is three times more important in China than in Spain. It is not possible to continue at this level, we have to change things together: government, companies and consumers, "he added.