The A1 motorway linking Paris to Lille is one of the busiest in Europe, yet it was poorly equipped with charging stations.
The lack of ultra-fast terminals put in particular difficulty Dutch or Belgian tourists going south or going back home.
On the huge Vémars area (Val d'Oise), a few kilometers from Roissy airport, Fastned inaugurated its largest French station on Monday.
In each direction, under yellow and photovoltaic "shades", its 300 kilowatt terminals promise an 80% recharge in about twenty minutes for around thirty euros, depending on the car model.
The Dutch terminal operator plans to initially welcome around ten users per day, many more on weekends and during holidays, and up to 1.000 vehicles potentially around 2030.
"It's the start of a new era for the motorway", launched Arnaud Quémard, managing director of the Sanef group.
The aim is to reduce the CO2 emissions of customers of these motorways in northern France, which reach 6,5 million tonnes of CO2 per year, or 1,5% of French emissions.
All areas soon to be equipped?
To settle in this area for fifteen years, behind the Shell service station, Fastned had to guarantee that the number of terminals would evolve with traffic, with "competitive" prices, underlined Mr. Quémard.
After visiting a terminal manufacturing plant in Pas-de-Calais on Monday morning, Transport Minister Clément Beaune stopped in Vémars on the way back (in a hybrid DS).
The government is behind on its target of 100.000 terminals and is targeting highways. Enedis, which manages the electricity network, has multiplied the sites.
All the areas of the APRR and AREA networks are now equipped, as required by law at the end of 2022. The Vémars station was built in five weeks at the end of the year.
“We are able to reach all the motorway service areas in France before the end of the semester”, underlined Clément Beaune.
This is to reassure motorists who switch to electric and who would like to make long journeys, which are increasingly possible with the batteries of new electric models.
Despite the recent increase in electricity prices, the Minister is betting on a drop in the price of refills, with the cost per kWh halved by 2030.
While motorway companies are criticized for their prices and their profits, the minister underlined that the State had encouraged investment in electricity, in particular via subsidies, before questioning the model of motorways at the start. of the 2030s.
Fastned has shared the Sanef motorway network with its competitors TotaEnergies and Ionity (which brings together BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes and Volkswagen). The competition now takes place on national roads and at the entrance to metropolitan areas.
"There is a challenge: finding land" for these replacements for petrol pumps, explains Clément Molizon, general delegate of Avere-France, which brings together industrialists in the sector.
It is also for the operators to place their brand, as TotalEnergies or Shell did, with "a network that holds up, advantages", he underlines.
At the same time, "the prospects for profitability are dwindling for operators", underlines the firm Xerfi in a note published in early February. The significant costs of deploying and operating the stations, as well as the surge in electricity prices, complicate the operators' calculations.
Under these conditions, reaching a critical size is a prerequisite for amortizing network development costs. Takeovers between operators therefore seem "inevitable": they will benefit "players with substantial financial means to acquire strategic locations and bear being in deficit over a long period", notes Xerfi.
Faced with the upheavals in this sector, the Competition Authority announced on Friday that it would take an independent action to examine "the competitive functioning of the sector of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles".