Plugging the gaps in EV charging infrastructure

The rollout of public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in Europe has failed to keep pace with EV sales growth. To meet projected demand, it is estimated that 8.8mn public charging points will be needed across the EU by 2030 – up from just over 1mn installed at the end of 2024.¹

Despite this supportive context, we believe private markets investors need to be highly selective as the sector matures. Prospective returns will be determined by individual market dynamics, asset locations and charging technologies employed. The choice of local partner is also all-important.

Addressing an undersupply of chargers

Almost 6mn fully electric battery EVs (BEVs) were on EU roads by the end of 2024, a year when BEVs accounted for 14% of new car registrations despite a temporary flattening of demand growth in certain markets.² Sales growth has returned in 2025, supported by a combination of economics, subsidies and government targets.

A growing range of low-cost EVs have been brought to European forecourts, enabled by tumbling battery costs that declined by 25% in 2024 alone. Reduced fuel and maintenance expenses mean lifetime ownership costs are often lower than for internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalents.³

While many EVs are cost-competitive without subsidies, a patchwork of country-specific purchase grants, tax breaks and company car incentives further promote consumer adoption – to varying extents – across individual European markets.⁴ Both the EU and the UK have pledged to ban sales of new ICE cars by 2035.

Yet the expansion of EV charging infrastructure has far from kept pace, overall. While the EU’s EV fleet expanded 18-fold between 2017 and 2023, the number of public chargers grew only six-fold. At this rate of installation, it would take more than 50 years to meet projected 2030 demand levels.⁵

Source: Impax analysis of European Alternative Fuels Observatory data, September 2025.
BEV = battery electric vehicle. PHEV = plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
* Q3 2025

Interpreting a fragmented market

The need to address this shortfall and accelerate EV charger installations is clearly supportive for the industry overall. Market dynamics mean these tailwinds do not necessarily translate into abundant investment opportunities, however. Investors need to carefully assess the range of EV charging systems and individual market conditions.

The first distinction is between the accessibility of charging systems: fully public, semi-public and private. Fully public options include en route charging – such as at motorway services – destination charging – such as at shopping malls – and on-street charging in residential areas. Semi-public options include destination charging – at offices and hotels, for example – and shared fleet systems for businesses. Private options are typically residential and exclusive fleet charging systems.

The second distinction is technological: ultrafast, fast and slow charging systems are each suited to different roles. The latter, which can generally charge a mid-sized EV in six-to-eight hours, are typically deployed in residential systems as well as on-street parking, car parks and hotels. Fast chargers, meanwhile, are installed at service stations and retail locations, as are the next generation of ultra-fast chargers, which can typically add around 100 miles of range in 10 minutes.⁶

The third distinction is between individual European EV charging markets: while some are saturated, others have sparse coverage. In contrast to the Netherlands, which had 8.2 per 1,000 residents and 7.7 per 10km of road in 2023, Poland (which has very low EV adoption rates) had installation rates of 0.2 and 0.1, respectively.⁷

Identifying private markets opportunities

We reviewed more than 20 private markets EV charging investment propositions across Europe and found most were unsuitable for one or more of the following reasons.

First, business cases commonly rely on overly optimistic projections of utilisation rates. Second, charging assets are often vulnerable to competition. Third, many propositions target overcrowded parts of the EV charging market. Fourth, several projects have failed to secure competitive lease locations or best-in-class equipment. Finally, many leadership teams lack track records of executing projects or sufficient expertise or systems to deliver against their business plans.

To proceed with an EV charging investment within private markets, we identify three key criteria that need to be fulfilled.

1. The right market. Investment opportunities should logically be strongest in countries that have relatively high EV penetration – or at least strong policy support for EV adoption – but lag on charging infrastructure. We see Ireland, which has the second-highest number of EVs per fast charger in the EU, as illustrative of this dynamic.⁸ National and local EV charging plans support the Irish government’s target to halve transport emissions by 2030, compared with 2018.⁹
2. The right strategy. The most attractive projects will, in our view, involve appropriate assets in high-value locations with contractual protections that ensure limited direct competition. For example, ultra-fast public chargers that are conveniently situated on motorway networks, and that have local exclusivity, should command high usage rates and margins. Diversification of assets, and so income streams, within a portfolio of charging infrastructure is also important.
3. The right partner. Partnering with a team that can demonstrate success in relevant sub-markets, for instance by winning competitive tenders for high-value public charging locations, is often critical to the success of private markets infrastructure investments. Differentiators include teams’ approaches to data analysis, for example in using charger utilisation data to inform location decisions.

While the speed of electrification of personal mobility across Europe varies by country, and will continue to be shaped by policy decisions and consumer preferences, EV adoption will drive accelerating demand for well-targeted charging infrastructure. Fulfilling these three criteria lays the foundations for selective private markets investors to maximise prospective risk-adjusted returns in this space.

¹ European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, 2024: Charging ahead – accelerating the roll-out of EU electric vehicle charging infrastructure; IEA, 2025: Global EV Outlook 2025
² Eurostat, July 2025: 1.45 million new battery-only electric cars in 2024
³ IEA, 2025: Trends in electric car affordability
⁴ VeCharged, August 2025: Europe’s New 2025 EV Incentives: How to Get Thousands in Savings
⁵ European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, 2024: Charging ahead – accelerating the roll-out of EU electric vehicle charging infrastructure
⁶ Gridserve, 2025
⁷ European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, 2024: Charging ahead – accelerating the roll-out of EU electric vehicle charging infrastructure
⁸ European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, 2024: Charging ahead – accelerating the roll-out of EU electric vehicle charging infrastructure
⁹ Government of Ireland, 2025: Regional and Local EV Charging Network Plan 2025-2030 / Government of Ireland, 2024: National Road Network EV Charging Plan 2024-2030

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