Electric vehicles can be charged at 2,158 public charging points in 816 locations in Slovakia, the installed capacity has increased by more than 30% since the beginning of the year
The construction of public charging stations for electric vehicles has seen growth in Slovakia in the first half of 2024, although not a single one has been installed yet from the two calls from the Recovery and Resilience Plan to support construction. At the end of June 2024, there were 2,158 public charging points in 861 locations with a total installed capacity of 107,536 kW. Although the pace of construction of charging stations, overwhelmingly by private companies, is encouraging, more real support from the state is needed for the effective development of electro-mobility.
Since the beginning of the year, 350 new charging points have been added, bringing the total number of sites to 861. Total installed capacity has increased by more than 30% to 107 536 kW. “The biggest increase is in the most powerful chargers, which are key for long routes and fast charging,” said Patrik Križanský, Director of the Slovak Electromobility Association (SEVA). The number of chargers with a capacity of more than 300 kW increased from 32 to 60, an increase of 88%. The current overview of the public charging network in Slovakia, in which SEVA collects information from all providers of charging services, is available on the website nabijame.sk.
Renewal Plan support pending
The Ministry of Economy has faced criticism for its slow evaluation of applications and signing of contracts with applicants under two calls for tenders to build charging infrastructure. “The call aimed at cities as beneficiaries was published more than a year ago and to this day no contracts have been signed to allow construction to start,” Križanský said. “The market is ready to implement the Recovery and Resilience Plan, but the evaluation is very slow and the delay in signing contracts is holding up the whole process. We believe that speeding up the bureaucratic process could also significantly accelerate the construction itself and contribute to the faster development of electromobility in Slovakia.” Dozens of applications have been received for the two Recovery and Resilience Plan schemes targeting cities and companies as applicants. “Today we can say with almost certainty that the entire amount allocated for these calls will be easily exhausted, which is proof that such programmes make sense and are needed. All that is needed is to allow applicants to draw on them and actually start building thousands of charging points across Slovakia,” says Križanský. “Investments in charging infrastructure are crucial for the further development of electromobility in Slovakia and with the development of electromobility on the roads, they will soon bring benefits for the whole society.”
The summary information on charging infrastructure published by SEVA on a quarterly basis only captures the number of public charging stations. It should be pointed out that, on average, more than 80% of charging is carried out at non-public stations – in private garages, companies, office buildings or depots.