Almost 30,000 charging points are now available in Spain

Spain continues to advance in electrification, with growth in the electrified market in 2023, reaching 12% of the market share of passenger cars, with half of sales in the business sector. The public charging network grew by 11,173 points, bringing the total to 29,301, although 7,728 points remain inactive. Despite an improvement of 3.7 points in the electromobility indicator, reaching 14.1, it is still far from the European average of 27.4 points.

The penetration of electrified vehicles in the Spanish market was 12% in 2023, compared with the European average of 22.3%. ANFAC highlights the need for government measures to accelerate sales of electrified vehicles, stressing that sustainability can only be achieved with greater adoption of zero-emission vehicles. Wayne Griffiths, president of ANFAC, underlines the importance of these measures to maintain Spain’s competitiveness as the second largest vehicle manufacturer in Europe.

Growing…but at a very slow pace

In 2023, the electrified vehicle penetration index in Europe rose to 21.5 points, an increase of 4.6 points over the full year. However, Spain lags behind in this respect, only ahead of Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic, with a score of 19.5. The European average reached 40.4 points, an increase of 4 points.

Germany experienced a significant decline due to the end of incentives for plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), which led to a drop of 7.2 points in 2023. By contrast, Spain improved by 4.6 points, narrowing the gap with the EU-27 average.

Sales of electrified vehicles in Spain in 2023 reached 124,628 units, an increase of 47% over the previous year, representing 11% of the total market. Electrified passenger cars, which totalled 113,784 units, saw 51.3% of sales go to the business sector. ANFAC urged the government to implement tax measures to incentivise business purchases, such as a 100% VAT rebate.

In other segments, electrified city buses and light commercial vehicles showed promising growth, accounting for 14.3% and 6.8% of sales respectively. However, sales of electrified industrial vehicles remain low, barely reaching 1.2%.

Still far from reaching the goal

During 2023, the public charging infrastructure reached 29,301 points, compared with the previous year, representing a significant increase of 11,173 new points, the largest annual increase since ANFAC’s Electromobility Barometer began in 2019.

According to ANFAC, in addition to the number of points, it is important to consider quality, especially charging power, highlighting the need to promote the installation of ultra-rapid charging points to reduce charging times for electric vehicles. Although there is still progress to be made, the growth of ultra-rapid charging points has been notable, with 827 new points with power of at least 150 kW by the end of the year.

Spain lacks public charging points specifically designed for heavy vehicles in terms of power and accessibility. In addition, 7,728 charging points have been identified as out of service, representing 21% of the total infrastructure. Although this figure has decreased compared with the third quarter, if all points were operational, Spain would have 37,029 public charging points, which would improve its position in ANFAC’s charging infrastructure indicator and place it above Portugal and Italy.