Since the beginning of the 21st century, our lifestyles have been evolving and are punctuated by the successive appearance of technological innovations. These innovations now integrate all the fields of our society, from communications and information, to education, health, industry and agriculture. Technological innovations are also present in the fields of construction, tourism, transport and mobility. The OECD defines technological innovation as the development of a more efficient product with the aim of providing the consumer with objectively new or improved services. To develop on a large scale, however, and disrupt lifestyles, these innovations must prove their relevance in providing a solution to the practical needs and economic constraints of the population. In the previous series, we talked about sustainability. In the field of mobility, new technological processes are often used to try to meet the challenge of sustainability.
This first episode is dedicated to the charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. This infrastructure, which is supposed to promote the development of electric vehicles, is still confronted with the need to offer the same comfort that thermal vehicles already have. The idea that one should be able to keep all the conveniences of a gasoline car with an electric vehicle is based on the observation that one of the major concerns in the adoption of an electric vehicle would be the anxiety of autonomy, or the fear of breakdown. However, given the distances covered on a daily basis, which are well below the autonomy of the vehicles, this fear of breakdown is mainly a psychological obstacle and not a real constraint to mobility.Nevertheless, if the challenge is not to be able to fill up everywhere, all the time, in less than five minutes, the deployment of a high-performance recharging infrastructure in line with the number of vehicles on the road seems to be an essential lever for the transition to electromobility. To what extent should we really be concerned about the availability and performance of the EV recharging infrastructure? What are the constraints on this infrastructure and what are the ways to alleviate the fear of failure to finally encourage the purchase of electric vehicles?
6t-research office, Prospective study: behaviour change towards sustainable mobility and alternative fuel vehicles. Final report, 20206t-research office, Etude des besoins en bornes de rechargees pour une régulation au service d'une automobilité raisonnée - état des lieux des acteurs et technologies d'infrastructure de recharge, 2019ADEME, Ministère de la Transition Ecologique et Solidaire, DGE, DGEC, Étude sur la caractérisation des besoins en déploiement d'infrastructures de recharge pour véhicule électrique, 2018ENEDIS, Utilisation et recharge : Enquête comportementale auprès des possesseurs de véhicules électriques, 2021Ipsos Mori, Consumer attitudes to low and zero-emission cars. Transport & Envrionment, October 2018Bergerolle, Eric, "Electric cars: the profitability of charging stations remains doubtful," Challenges, September 2018Torregrossa, Michaël, "Chez Auchan, la charge des voitures électriques devient payante," Automobile propre, November 2019Fry, A., Ryley, T., & Thring, R, "The influence of knowledge and persuasion on the decision to adopt or reject alternative fuel vehicles," Sustainability (Switzerland), 10(9), 2997, 2018AVERE, GIREVE, National charging infrastructure barometer, May 2020, http://www.avere-france.org/Uploads/Documents/16206411958e3546780ad81e9f93d81362b7a72bcd-Barom%C3%A8tre%20IRVE,%20mai%202021.pdfCNBC,CNBC's number 1 disruptor, Elon Musk, June 2017
.png)
