France Getting Serious on Charging Infrastructure

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

Four months ago, the leading French charge point operators (CPOs) united in a “fraternity” or professional association under the name “Charge France.” It started with 13 members. Currently, there are 18, all exploiting a network of DC fast charging stations with multiple chargers. Tesla and some recent entries into the French market are not among them, just as the many operators of AC charging or small DC charging operators are missing.

Five years ago, the French charging landscape was a nightmare. The CPO that exploited most chargers along the motorways had a dispute about a software patch for a single charger and shut down the complete network for months. I discovered this when travelling to Paris for a Renault press event about its EV programme for the coming years. The reaction of the French government was crickets.

At the same time, the German federal government had realized that the rollout of DC fast charging was going too slowly and was too difficult for the (mostly young) companies that tried to build the infrastructure. Germany started the Deutschlandnetz project in 2019 and said it would have over a thousand subsidized locations ready for the CPOs in two years. Then it discovered that it was really too difficult, even for the federal administration. It took over 4 years, and during that time many CPOs waited with their investment in new locations.

The French government took action later, but it did have a far easier task. Most motorways in France are toll roads owned by private companies. They also own and manage the motorway rest areas (MRA). The minister mandated DCFC on all MRA within 2 years. Easy peasy for the administration. Chaos for the motorway companies and the CPOs that tried to get a concession.

Above is a table of companies in the association that I could find some data online from, one less than in the original press release. It is made by visiting their websites and translating them as needed, producing mixed results. The number of stations is not clear for some. Some publish AC and DC together, only the number of plugs, or no comprehensible data at all. With the numbers of 4 companies missing, this table shows about 2,800 stations with DC chargers.

Reading the fine print, it is not about all DC fast chargers, it is only about the high-power charging (HPC) chargers. Those are systems that can charge at a rate of 100kW or more, and those numbers are not on any website.

I believe they have 2,000+ stations with 10,000+ charging plugs among them. The original news was that they intended to add three times the current number by 2028, going from 2,000/10,000 to 8,000/40,000. But later publications talk about tripling the installed base. That is going to a “mere” 6,000/30,000.

The expected investment is over €3 billion. Even 4,000 stations with 4 chargers each will likely cost more, but the current trend is to build larger stations. Even with most stations, urban and rural, a minimum of 4 chargers with an average of 6 feels more likely.

But this is my opinion, as a Monday-morning quarterback. I have no idea about the needs of sparsely populated rural France. Perhaps they need mainly easy-to-reach stations with just two chargers.

The more important thing is that this initiative will make fast charging available to most of France within an acceptable distance. This shows the ambition to enable France to become one of the leading countries in the transition to clean driving. Even living in the world’s charging paradise, I am a bit jealous.

A lot has changed for the better in France. Charging anxiety will soon be a memory of another era in France.