It’s been more than three years since Jonathan Murat, taxi driver and ambulance driver in Deux-Sèvres, converted to the electric car. If, according to him, “there is no debate about the comfort and ease of use of electric vehicles on a daily basis”the same is not true for the quality of the charging network.
“For my part, I mainly use the Séolis terminals, which are quite widespread and rather inexpensive, but it regularly happens that they are out of service, which can cause stress regarding the possibility of reaching a viable terminal »explains the motorist.
“The 2025 deadline will be difficult to meet”
Since 2016, the number of electric car chargings in Deux-Sèvres has doubled each year. In 2023, 100,000 electric car recharges were recorded by the Alterbase network of the Deux-Sèvres Energy Union (Sieds), which manages 60% of the charging stations open to the public in the department, the rest being the responsibility of private installers.
And the number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars in circulation is expected to increase further, with the European Union having banned the sale of new combustion engine vehicles from 2035. Negotiating this major shift towards electric therefore requires a serious blow. accelerator for the deployment of charging stations.
In Deux-Sèvres, the recommended needs are 628 terminals by 2025, or 1,256 charging points, compared to 389 at present.
© (Photo NR, Camille Montagnon)
This, especially since from 1er January 2025, the law will require all car parks to have at least one charging point for every twenty parking spaces. In Deux-Sèvres, the needs recommended by the Sieds master plan in 2022 are 628 terminals by 2025, or 1,256 charging points, compared to 389 at present.
Although Deux-Sèvres is among the best-off rural departments, the step is high. The Niortais urban community has, for example, only around sixty terminals, whereas the Sieds master plan recommends 254.
Without surprise, “the 2025 deadline will therefore be difficult to meet”, Mehdi Gheribi has already announced. The general director of energy union services prefers to talk about “the spirit of the law, because it is useless to put limits which will not be used”. It is therefore a question of advancing step by step, towards an ideal of a terminal every 20 to 30 kilometers.
For Mehdi Gheribi, general director of Sieds services, it is better to take into account “the spirit of the law”, which aims to boost the deployment of the fleet of electric charging stations.
© (Photo NR, Camille Montagnon)
Notice to municipalities
To achieve this, Sieds has budgeted an annual envelope of more than €500,000, intended to finance all of the terminals of voluntary communities, “until 50% of the deployment of the master plan is reached” for requests made before 2026, compared to 30% after this deadline.
With an installation cost of €10,000 to €15,000 per terminal, priority will therefore go to the municipalities quickest to express their interest. In mid-2025, a new milestone will make it possible to assess the needs of communities.
Until then, “the best way to recharge in Deux-Sèvres is to do it at home”, estimates Jonathan Murat, while 90% of recharges take place at home or at the workplace. Nevertheless: the paramedic is waiting “impatiently” the renewal of the terminal stock in the department.
