New report finds chasm between Europe's best and worst EV markets
Fleet managers attempting to implement a pan-European electric vehicle policy face an uphill challenge, according to new research.
The LeasePlan EV Readiness Index 2020 has revealed a chasm between the countries that are best prepared to adopt EVs and the worst prepared. Across 22 countries, the best performers are three times more ready to go electric than the worst.
The Netherlands, Norway and the UK lead the readiness index, while Romania, Poland and Slovakia are at the foot of the table, next to major markets such as Italy and Spain.
THE LEASEPLAN EV READINESS INDEX
The index is based on four criteria: the maturity of the EV market in a country; the maturity of a country’s public charging infrastructure; government incentives to drive a battery-powered vehicle; and LeasePlan’s forward orders for both EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
According to LeasePlan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden have the most mature EV markets, although only in Norway did sales of EVs and PHEVs account for more than 50% of registrations in 2019. The second highest percentage was 11.52% in the Netherlands.
Charging infrastructure
The Index tracked a 73% increase in public charging stations in 2019, compared to the previous year, and the number of fast chargers now stands at over 4,000 for the continent. In terms of the charging infrastructure, Norway and the Netherlands have the best ratio of chargers per inhabitant, while Greece, Poland and Romania languish a long way behind.
Across Europe almost every government now offers generous incentives to support the uptake of EVs, and Austria, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and the UK have tax systems which deliver the biggest benefits to EV drivers compared to drivers with a diesel car.
The role of fleets
With about half of all vehicles on European roads registered to corporate organisations, businesses have an important role to play in decarbonising road transport, said LeasePlan. The international leasing giant added that switching to electric is one of the easiest ways for companies to shrink their environmental footprint.
Tex Gunning, CEO of LeasePlan, said: “Although our EV Readiness Index shows that electric driving is becoming a viable option in an increasing number of countries, we still have a long way to go before we get everyone driving electric. Millions of Europeans still live in countries where public charging infrastructure is woefully inadequate or in which they pay more taxation than drivers of fossil fuel cars. Transitioning to electric is one of the simplest things we can all do to help tackle climate change and everyone should be able to afford to go green. Policymakers must therefore step up and continue to invest in public charging infrastructure and to incentivise EV uptake until electric becomes the common sense choice for all drivers.”
