Rapid chargers installation is one of the biggest challenges for emobility expansion.
The deployment of Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure is very important for e-mobility expansion in a territory. The presence of charging stations, especially rapid charging in public roads, are key to reduce range anxiety, one of the most important brakes in the transition to the electric vehicle.
In 2017 there were 23,215 EV in Spain and it is estimated that it will reach 115,00 in 2020. AEDIVE (Spanish Association for the Development and the Promotion of Electric Vehicle) says that, although European manufacturers association ACEA claim that last July there were 4,974 charging points in Spain, that figures only makes sense if they are also counting private plugs. Nevertheless, Spain is far from the Netherlands (32,875), Germany (25,214), France (16,311) and United Kingdom (14,256) four countries that have 76% of EV charging points in Europe. AEDIVE states that Spain has only 200 EV rapid chargers able to charge the vehicle in half an hour and increasing its autonomy.
First person experience
How is the experience travelling through Spain in an EV? Spanish newspaper El País tells in a story the experience of one of its journalists from Madrid to Sevilla, a 520km journey, with a Nissan Leaf. We expected to stop twice to charge, once in Talavera de la Reina and once in Mérida coinciding with Nissan car dealers with chargers. The first stop was, as planned, in Talavera de la Reina where after three hours charging in a semi-rapid EV charger, a 205 km autonomy was achieved. This was not enough to reach Mérida, that’s why they had to improvise a stop in Majada, a restaurant near Trujillo, that they located thanks to Electromaps, a collaborative app that geolocates EV charging points. In this one and a half hour stop, the load was enough to travel 82km more. This was just enough to get to Mérida before car dealer closing time where they completely charge they battery in an hour and a half. It took 12 hours and 40 minutes to travel 520 km. But this journey was made without gas emissions and without spending money in charging because all the charging points were free.
Beyond the extra stops, the journalist makes some interesting considerations. They explain that there are two electric charging stations on the route, but they are not active because they need an authorization of local authorities to get the power. Aware of this problem EV manufacturers have created their own distribution networks and offer charging points in car dealers. The problem with this is that you must charge during car dealer’s business hours. Another aspect that stands out is the importance of knowing your vehicles and all the features that may affect energy consumption such as driving conditions or the use of the radio or the heating. You can read the complete story in El País.
On Twitter we found another experience of someone travelling on an EV through Spain. Glyn Hudson, a blogger on electric mobility, travelled from North Wales to the south of Spain in an eNV200 Nissan van. He, as El Pais’ journalists, charged mostly in Nissan car dealers and rapid chargers and often used Twitter to find charging stations and find out about their status. You can follow Glyn Hudson’s adventure on his Twitter account.
About Circontrol 
Circontrol is a company founded in 1997 with headquarters in Viladecavalls (Barcelona). Its parking division designs and manufacture a global solution for efficient parking (guidance system, LED Lighting, energetic efficiency). Its emobility division manufactures a wide range of EV charging solutions that covers all market needs: domestic charge, slow charge (AC) and quick charge (DC).
Circontrol has a strong presence in the international market, where an 80% of its sales are allocated. Nowadays you can find Circontrol solutions in 52 countries with 30.000 charging points and 400.000 parking spaces managed with CirPark systems. Service is also very important for Circontrol, this is the reason why bet on a qualified aftersales service and a constant training for Circontrol partners are in company’s DNA.
