EU funds 200 charging points for electric vehicles across France

The EU’s TEN-T Programme will provide €5 million to co-fund a study and a pilot deployment of 200 charging points for electric vehicles on the main French highways. The project will contribute to the development of charging infrastructure and enable a wider use of electric transport in Europe.

“France has many front-running innovative companies, such as Renault, but for mass market uptake, a wide coverage of charging stations is essential, as most electric vehicle owners wish to cover inner-city and long-distance travel,” Jakub Adamowicz, Spokesperson for the European Commission, told Cities Today. “Consequently, these 200 stations will enable citizens across France to take advantage of this new technology. France is on a good path, via tax incentives for example, but the goal of mass market viability for electric vehicles has not yet been reached.”

The TEN-T study, named CORRIDOR, has the support of a consortium of companies (Electricité de France, Renault, Nissan West-Europe, ParisTech, Volkswagen and BMW) who have decided to test their concept for mass-market introduction on the highways in France.

The project will work on a set of technological, environmental and end user requirements to enable an interoperable fast charging network and foster rapid electric vehicle deployment in France. In its pilot phase the initiative will deploy, test, operate and monitor 200 new interoperable and multi-standard fast charging stations.

“Projects like CORRIDOR need to be replicated across the EU to allow trans-European travel,” added Adamowicz. “Once a pilot is successful, a rollout of an entire corridor or even a whole network would be the natural next step. The linking up of EU pilot projects should be encouraged and therefore particular attention should be given to standardisation and roaming capabilities. There needs to be more direct incentives to the buyers of alternative fuel vehicles and countries need to invest in the installation of charging stations.”

The second phase of the project will be dedicated to drafting recommendations on interoperable connections with existing charging networks in France and neighbouring countries, to ensure that the same network can be replicated across Europe.

The third phase will cover the development and validation of innovative business models supporting the deployment of a fast charging infrastructure. It will involve processing data from the pilot and benchmarking it with other European systems.