the trouble is not over

Can you stock up on energy at home? This is one of the big advantages of the electric vehicle compared to its thermal counterpart. According to a survey by the Enedis institute for BVA, in 2024, 86% of recharges will be done at home. Much more expensive and less practical at the same time, terminals on public roads are therefore far from being popular. But this situation also threatens to create a new type of “social divide”. Today, the possibility of connecting at home is in fact mainly reserved for owners of individual homes, while one in two French people live in collective buildings. According to the latest quarterly barometer published by Avere-France, AFOR and Enedis, less than 12% of collective buildings have validated the installation of a charging infrastructure. We even fall to less than 4% if we limit ourselves to collective buildings which have already carried out the installation. There may in fact be a delay between the moment when a co-ownership decides on a technical solution and the moment when a first user of an electric car will initiate work to have a terminal or socket installed in their parking space.

Eight times fewer terminals than on public roads

In total, there would only be 19,147 charging points installed in collective residential areas. This is 8.77% more than in the second quarter of 2024, but it is almost eight times less than public charging points and it is a drop in the bucket on the scale of the millions of French people potentially affected. However, this figure only takes into account charging points installed by private operators from AFOR (French association of charging operators). It therefore excludes buildings which have preferred to connect to the public electricity distribution network. But despite everything, it clearly illustrates the long road that remains to be covered in this area. Fortunately, the State is aware that this is a real obstacle to the development of electric vehicles in France. This situation makes its forecast of seeing this type of engine reach 66% of new car sales and 15% of the vehicle fleet by 2030 even more unrealistic. Various measures have therefore been put in place over the years to be able to correct the shot.

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Aid guaranteed until the end of 2027

A national program, called Advenir, therefore offers two types of bonuses to cover part of the installation costs: one for the collective charging infrastructure, the other for the charging station and its installation. In a tense budgetary context, which threatens the ecological bonus like social leasing, “this aid is now available until the end of 2027”assures Clément Molizon, general delegate of Avere France. “But we won’t necessarily have to come knocking on our door in 2028 asking for money.” To simplify things, in most cases, it is the operator or installer of the infrastructure who takes care of the administrative procedures. A subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts, called Logivolt, has also specialized in financing solutions for charging in collective buildings. Came into force in 2019, the right to take, which allowed an owner of an electric vehicle to equip their parking space without needing the agreement of other co-owners, under certain conditions, is therefore no longer as necessary as ‘previously. Especially since the various systems put in place generally avoid placing installation costs on those who do not feel concerned, in order to optimize the chances of a favorable vote at the general meeting.

Outdoor parking lots that complicate matters

The aid provided by the State is not only financial. The website copro.jerouleenelectric.fr, published by Avere, also includes a “guide for the installation of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle charging stations in condominiums”. Advenir even offers training to help co-ownership managers better understand this topic, which is still recent for them. The situation is therefore gradually improving. But charging infrastructure projects sometimes find themselves in “competition” with much more expensive projects deemed to be a priority, starting with the energy renovation of old buildings. They can then see themselves relegated to the background or deferred. The issue of outdoor parking, which would be present in around a third of condominiums, also remains complex. The costs of installing a charging infrastructure are in fact two to three times higher than for an underground car park. Even if an increase in aid for this type of structure is due to come into force very soon, it will undoubtedly still take a considerable amount of time before you can easily refuel your electric car in the majority of French collective buildings.