In Italy, the public charging network infrastructure keeps growing!
Overall, we’re witnessing a steady and significant growth of the public charging network throughout the Italian territory, especially regarding fast and ultra-fast charging stations, despite a persisting gap in coverage between Northern and Southern Italy, coherent with the development of the EV market. Hence, numbers testify to the constant commitment of specialized operators, including Ewiva, the joint venture by Enel X Way and Volkswagen Group, as reported in the latest report made by Motus-E, outlining the current electric mobility scenario and the extensiveness of Italy’s infrastructure, also compared to other European Union countries.
Electric charging infrastructure: the current Italian scenario
As anticipated, 2022 recorded a constant growth trend in the setting up of public-use charging points in Italy. We can notice a significant surge in the growth rate, coupled with the overall rise of installed charging points. As a matter of fact, by December 31, 2022, Italy feature 36,772 installed charging points in 19,334 charging stations (stations or columns) and 14,048 publicly available locations. Hence, last year saw a net growth of 10,748 units, with a 41% growth rate.
It’s also important to highlight how we’re also witnessing a rise in the power output of installed charging points: the DC quota of charging points has doubled, from 6% in 2021 to 12% in 2022, while the ultra-fast charging points quota has tripled, like those installed by Ewiva, featuring a power output ranging from 100kW to 350kW
Last but not least, although still strongly curtailed, we witness a strong growth compared to the previous year of charging points in motorways. In one year, locations have more than quadrupled: from 118 in 2021 to 496 in 2022. Of these, 64% boast power equal to or greater than 150 kW, allowing for ever shorter charging stops for drivers traveling on longer journeys.
How many electric cars are officially registered?
By December 2022, there are about 170,000 BEVs circulating in Italy. If we take into account the ratio between charging points and circulating electric vehicles, we immediately notice that Italy is on track to reach its long-term goal of considerable extensiveness of its charging service. In fact, Italy features more charging points per circulating vehicle compared to the UK, France, Germany, and Norway, ranking second only behind the Netherlands and Belgium.
The geographic distribution of charging points
To this day, the geographic distribution of public charging points still isn’t fully consistent throughout Italy, with 58% of infrastructures located in Northern Italy, 22% in Central Italy, and only 20% in Southern Italy. However, more than 99% of the Italian territory features at least one charging point within a 20 km radius, and 86% within a mere 10 km. Ewiva is actively engaged in the development of charging infrastructure throughout the country, and since its establishment has activated about 120 new high-power charging points.
The number of charging points naturally grows exponentially as one gets close to urban centers and major cities, with over 600 charging points available within a 10 km radius. According to the Motus-E report, Rome is the city boasting the largest number of charging points, while Venice tops the list for the number of points per capita, and Milan features the most charging points in relation to the city’s surface. Lombardy is the most virtuous region with 5,971 charging stations, followed by Piedmont, Veneto, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, and Tuscany.
In terms of growth rate compared to 2021, Friuli Venezia-Giulia is the region that witnessed the highest growth (+96,95%), followed by Veneto (+58,6%), Sardinia (58,2%) and Marche (+55,2%).
How many charging points can Italians really reach from any starting point?
In order to foster the spreading of electric mobility, it’s fundamental that charging points are evenly spread throughout the territory.
In Italy, an EV driver can expect to find at least a charging point within a 30 km radius, and even restricting it further to 20 or 10 km, the coverage still remains satisfactory. Specifically, 99% of the Italian territory features at least one charging point within a 20 km radius and 86% within 10 km. Indeed, starting from a city center, an EV driver can reach over 600 charging points within a 10 km radius. However, if we travel to outer zones, the number of charging zones available within a 10 km radius lowers significantly, reaching less than 3.
A comparison with other EU countries
We now focus on the numbers of other European Union countries. By December 31, 2022, the following public-use charging stations were operational:
- Netherlands: 115,103;
- Germany: 88,992;
- France: 74,185;
- United Kingdom: 55,552;
- Norway: 26,
It’s worth noting that Italy is on par with other countries, and as pointed out earlier, it ranks second only to the Netherlands and Belgium for the charging points-EV ratio. The reason for this result is partially attributed to the number of registered EVs in Italy which is still on the low side. However, when compared to other countries, the Italian public-use charging network is growing at a compatible – if not higher – rate compared to the market growth of BEVs and has reached an overall satisfactory level of extensiveness. As a matter of fact, past and current investments carried out by charging operators are in advance compared to the EV market but running behind similar investments in other European countries.