Concern over electric car charging capacity

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Electric car sales are surging – but experts are worried there are not enough charging points in the country to cope, and that may mean sales will start to stall.

It’s a classic chicken and egg situation. Should more charging stations be built now to handle the expected sales – or should they be built to reflect demand?

Currently most charging is at home. Adrian Wachholz, head of electrical mobility at the industrial conglomerate ABB, says the advantage of that means the car is always fully fuelled in the mornings. But many are worried there are not enough charging stations on the road. 

Last year 54,000 electric cars were sold here, that’s 22% of all car sales. Currently there are 7,000 charging stations across the country in 3,000 locations. For the moment, the experts say that’s sufficient, but if sales continue at the same rate – it soon won’t be. 

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