Question 1

The French government is ‘committed to cleaner mobility’. In view of the worsening climate, targets have been set to reduce the carbon impact. The development of sustainable mobility operations is being driven by work to promote the use of electric cars and the infrastructure needed to recharge them.
For 2030, the government is ‘mobilising all five of the following levers :
- decarbonising the energy consumed by vehicles, - energy efficiency of vehicles to limit energy consumption, - controlling the growth in demand, - modal shift and - optimising the use of vehicles for both passenger and freight transport’. One of the main objectives in meeting these levers is to increase the proportion of electric cars in the vehicle fleet to ‘15% by 2030’.

Is it feasible?
Let's take the Loire as an example. A French department located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, its industrial history and dynamic economic development set it apart. With its 18 hydraulic dams, the Loire produces a large amount of green electricity for its inhabitants, helping to meet the strong demand and the desire to adopt renewable energies. On a road network of over 13,000 kilometres, 122,716 electric cars were registered between 1 January 2020 and 31 March 2024. However, this only represents 1.12% of the total number of vehicles on the road.

Will the Loire be able to meet the government's targets?
To find out whether the Loire will achieve the 15% target for cars, we need to look ahead to 2030. It is important not to take 2024 into account, as the year is not complete, which is why a forecast is made from that year to 2030. Based on the average rate of change from 2020 to 2023, it will be reused to establish the sales forecast, and then the market share is calculated as normal. It is clear that the number of electric personal vehicles will outnumber other types of car before 2030. According to these forecasts, it's a successful gamble for the Loire, with more than 12% of electric cars on the road.

With the rapid increase in the number of electric cars, is the Loire managing to control the demand for recharging?

With a total of 152 facilities, the 5 towns with the most are grouped together in the same sector, and more specifically in the Saint-Etienne Métropole intercommunal area. What's more, the town with the most chargers is Saint-Etienne, with 70. This can be explained by its status as the Prefecture and largest city in the Loire, with 172,718 inhabitants. Even if it doesn't account for half of the total infrastructure, Saint-Etienne remains the major city. The second city with the most facilities is Saint-Chamond, which is a long way behind with just 12 facilities. Then there's Andrézieux-Bouthéon and Rive-de-Gier, each with just 6 facilities. Last in the top 5 is Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, with 5 facilities. This total of 4 towns represents a quarter of all the shippers in Saint-Etienne.

Does this distribution of facilities depend on the spread of electric cars?

Once again, this is reflected in the fact that the largest number of infrastructures are located in the Saint-Etienne metropolitan area. This can be explained by the large number of electric cars. The observation is blatantly obvious: only 5 of the 11 inter-municipalities have infrastructure, and 4 of these have just 11. In other words, not all the facilities have the same type of recharging point, so we hope we're lucky enough to have a facility close to home with the right socket, or we live directly in the Saint-Etienne Métropole intercommunal area. Beyond these towns, it will be complicated to recharge an electric car for the time being, unless it's at home. Clearly, the number of electric cars has an impact on the number of infrastructures. The more cars there are, the more infrastructure is needed. Charging stations are important for electric cars, which can travel between 350 and 250 kilometres. But they are not necessary to keep the electric car fleet running. Most electric car owners charge their cars at home.

All in all, the Loire is making good progress in terms of electric car ownership. More and more infrastructure is being built in different towns, offering different plugs. Thanks to this mobilisation, the government's objective will be achieved with renewable energy cars. Fossil-fuelled cars will continue to exist, but will they slow progress?

The Times’ perspective on 2030 objectives : electrical infrastructures in the Loire department (France)

The electric vehicle fleet is evolving along with the infrastructure.

The Times Leading Articles ｜Thursday September 27 2024, 10.01 pm UTC+2, The Times