200,000 more electric vehicle charging stations planned in next 4 years

Romania intends to install 200,000 electric vehicle charging stations in the next four years, as part of efforts to boost its share of renewables for fuels used in road transport, which is at only 1% currently, Minister of Energy Anton Anton has said, Romania’s Business Review has reported.

Earlier this year, Romanian renewable energy company Renovatio and Croatia’s telecommunications services provider Hrvatski Telekom said that they will install the first 23 fast charging stations for electric vehicles in Romania by the end of 2018, marking the start of a project to set up a network of 69 fast charging stations and 4 ultra-fast charging stations in the two countries.

According to Anton, going from 1% to 20%-40% for renewables in transport will require a lot of money, which Romania does not currently have.

“There is a very good chance that the percentage will grow soon: we’re accessing EU funds, there is a national strategy with a huge number of electric car charging stations, and we offer some of the largest bonuses for electric cars: EUR 10,000, larger than in any European country,” Anton was quoted as saying.

Electric, hybrid car sales on the rise

In the first quarter of 2018, the number of electric and hybrid cars sold in Romania jumped 62.4% year-on-year, to 661, according to the Association of Cars Producers and Importers (APIA).

In Q1, the share of green cars among cars sold nationally stood at 2.2%, up from 1.7% in the same period a year earlier, Business Review wrote.

According to government forecasts, Romanians are expected to buy 2,000 electric cars in 2018 through the Rabla Plus subsidy program.

Overall renewables target for 2020 already reached

Romania is otherwise among leading EU member states when it comes to reaching its overall 2020 renewables target, of 24%, which it attained in 2016.

The country could adopt a target of 31%-32% percent for renewable energy in 2030, according to Zoltan Nagy-Bege, vice president of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE).