Briefly
- France is approaching 200,000 EV terminals, but deployment will slow sharply in the first half of 2026.
- The current rate will have to be doubled to reach the 2030 target of 400,000 charging points.
- Finally, the reliability of the current grid must absolutely be improved to reassure current users and encourage others to move away from thermal energy.
The rollout of electric vehicle terminals in France clearly slowed in the first half of 2026, failing to reach the symbolic 200,000 charging points at the end of June. Figures that leave the government bewildered by its goals of doubling the number of stations by 2030. However, the move away from thermal engines is directly related to this large-scale deployment designed to encourage the transition to electricity.
Why does France urgently need to increase the capacity of its charging network?
While electricity attracts more and more French people, public charging stations must continue to become more popular in order to continue on this good path. For those who do not have a station at home, this is actually the only solution to regain their autonomy. Therefore, a significant and rapid deployment is required, and the start of 2026 will not reassure you on this issue.
Latest data fromHave-France Data published jointly with the Ministry of Green Transition shows that only 12,160 new installations were identified in the first half of 2026. This places the number of charging stations in France at 30 June 2026 at 197,663, compared to 195,536 at the end of May and 194,996 at the end of April.
Thus, the figure turns out to be more than disappointing and problematic in relation to the goals of the French government. In fact, by 2030, 400,000 points should be available. Taking into account the remaining 4 and a half years, more than 22,222 new terminals will need to be installed in the remaining nine semesters, which is almost double the current figure, notes Clean Automotive.
Apart from quantity, the problem is the quality of service. The immediate availability of stations is 94%, but hardware problems remain with an overall technical availability of 89%. In more detail, this figure drops to 84.7% for fast direct current (DC) terminals under 150 kW. Even worse, 9% of charging stations were out of service for more than seven days in a row.
Thus, to succeed in the 2030 challenge, France will have to combine large-scale deployment and impeccable reliability to fully support the energy transition of the national vehicle fleet in the coming years.