French public charging infrastructure skyrocketed by 57.4% on-year in the first six months of 2023 to almost 102,000 units, according to national electric mobility association Avere-France.

In June alone, 1,085 new charging points were installed in the country. This means an average of 151 charging points per 100,000 citizens. The average price of a single B2B charge was €0,38/kilowatt-hour ($0.42). The installed capacity was over 3.3 million kWh. Each charging point had 13.7 charging sessions for each vehicle. The association says chargers with over 150kWh capacity were available on average 82% of the time.

In 2022, 82,107 new charging points were added to the French EV charging network, up from 53,667 in 2021 and 32,736 in 2020.

“France is second among the best-equipped countries in the European Union, behind the Netherlands and ahead of Germany … We can reassure the French people who will be setting off on holiday in a few days that 99% of the service areas of the motorway network under concession are equipped with fast charging stations, the number of which has quadrupled in one year,” the association says in its report obtained by Kallanish.

Electric vehicle penetration has been growing almost three times faster in the EU than its build-up of charging points, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).

According to the trade body, the roll-out of charging points is lagging behind consumer demand for electrically-chargeable cars. It claims EV sales increased 17-fold over the past six years in the EU, while charging infrastructure increased by nearly six-fold in the same period.

The region registered 1.99 million rechargeable cars last year and 479,396 charging points. In 2016, there were 77,038 charging points for 118,542 EVs. From 2016 to 2022, charging infrastructure grew 522.3%, while the number of EVs on the roads increased 1,584% (see Kallanish 28 February).