Italy to install 21 000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2026

More than 21 000 charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) will be operational by 2026 on urban and inter-urban roads across Italy. This was the subject of two new decrees that were published in early January 2023 by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE).

The development of electric mobility is crucial to achieve the aims of national decarbonisation policies. However, as of January 2023, EVs only accounted for 0.1% of the total number of registered vehicles, according to analysis carried out by the Italian Government. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) foresees “a fleet of around 6 million EVs by 2030” and a network of “31 500 public fast charging points” in order to achieve European decarbonisation objectives. For this reason, specific objectives, measures and investments have been defined in the NRRP to support the sector.

In particular, over €700 million are allocated in the NRRP to building new charging stations in urban and inter-urban areas. The goal is to finance the installation of at least 7500 super-fast charging stations (i.e. those with a power of around 175kW) on inter-urban roads (other than highways) and 13 755 fast charging stations (with a power of 90kW) in cities. The decrees define the types of projects and expenditure that are eligible for funding, as well as regulating the project selection criteria and the regional distribution of the funds. At the same time, the funding allocation will take account of the principles of effectiveness, efficiency, affordability and maximum infrastructure capillarity in the region. The implementation of 21 000 new EV charging stations will help Italy reach its transport decarbonisation objectives, while reducing air pollution and improving quality of life.

The study of national requirements and needs was supported by the Research on the Energy System, which used modelling to set the infrastructure objectives to be realised in the upcoming 3 years for each region. In the first year, it is planned to award contracts - through tenders - to build 2500 EV charging stations on motorways and another 4000 EV charging stations in cities. The NRRP incentives will be able to cover up to 40% of the expenses and the interventions will have to be coherent with a minimum level of infrastructure per area, favouring the use of already existing service stations and parking areas. On motorways, super-fast infrastructure is envisaged to guarantee recharging in a short time on long-distance routes, which favours the installation of EV-charging stations in already existing service stations and parking areas.