Conducted jointly by RTE and Enedis, a new study focused on the development of fast charging stations on motorway rest areas. Good news: power calls, network extensions and adaptations do not present major technical challenges.
While all service areas must be equipped with high-power charging stations by 1er January 2023, Enedis and RTE measured the technical and financial impacts of the load on the motorway. Anticipating changes in the fleet and needs over the next 15 years, the two network managers have made various projections. While France currently has just over 600,000 electric vehicles (including plug-in hybrids), the study is based on two deadlines: 2028 and 2035 with fleets estimated at 5.3 and 15.6 million vehicles respectively. electric.
For its 2035 projections, the study defined two scenarios.
Limited power demands
While the massive development of high-power charging stations on motorway rest areas raises fears of network saturation, the report by RTE and Enedis is reassuring. Because if power calls will occur on the busiest axes and during certain periods (holidays and long weekends), they will remain uncorrelated from the peaks of electricity consumption observed during the winter.
The study thus estimates that the sum of the power demanded over all the areas equipped could reach between 2 and 5 GW in 2035. By this time, the power requirements will be of the order of 4 MW on average per service area. in the reference configuration, which projects an average of 20 load points for each equipped area. On the most heavily used areas, equipped with 80 charging points, the capacity may go up to 16 MW. In the “high” configuration, Enedis and RTE estimate that the power requirements per station would be on average 12 MW per area with 60 load points. On the most heavily used areas, with 200 charging points, the peak power could reach up to 40 MW.
Controlled consumption
In terms of consumption, the reference scenario established by Enedis and RTE estimates that motorway charging stations will represent around 0.7 TWh / year in 2028, or less than 0.2% of current electricity consumption.
By 2035, this consumption will climb between 1.8 TWh (reference scenario) and 3.5 TWh (high scenario). ” In all scenarios, this consumption will represent less than 0.7% of national electricity consumption ”, Estimates the report.
Limited investments
The extension and adaptation of networks do not represent major challenges either. For the connection and reinforcement of networks alone, Enedis and RTE estimate the investment between 300 and 600 million euros by 2035, or between 20 and 40 million euros per year. A sum which seems substantial, but which only represents between 0.3 and 0.6% of the investments planned by the two network operators over the period.
Connection requests to anticipate
From carrying out studies to obtaining administrative authorizations to connection work, 12 to 24 months are necessary to connect a high-power charging station. In order not to extend deadlines, Enedis and RTE call on project leaders to anticipate their requests as much as possible.
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