BARCELONA, Spain, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Spain installed a record number of new electric vehicle (EV) charging points in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, almost as many as in the whole of 2024, according to the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (Anfac).

The country's charging network has grown by 20 percent this year, with 7,633 new points installed. This brings the total to 46,358, which would rise to 59,430 if the 13,072 inoperative points were included.

"The challenge lies in the fact that large-scale integration of electric cars requires a paradigm shift, most importantly, the development of new infrastructure, especially the widespread installation of charging points," Cristian Fabrega, coordinator of the Master in Renewable Energies and Energy Sustainability at the University of Barcelona, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The professor added that many people in Spain "are still reluctant" when it comes to changing over to an EV, partly due to concerns over the range of electric cars and over where to charge theri cars?

Yet last month, the Business Association for the Development and Promotion of Electric Mobility (Aedive) reported that public charging stations in Spain are underused, with on average only 1.5 car charges made at charging points every day.

Javier Jimenez, whose energy services company Iraye installs charging stations, told Xinhua: "The EV market has slowed down a bit because people are still reluctant. There's still a great deal of ignorance surrounding the whole subject".

To encourage more people in Spain to purchase electric vehicles, the Spanish government announced on Arpil 1 it would extend subsidies under its Moves III Plan, raising the total funding earmarked for the promotion of electric mobility and infrastructure to almost 3 billion euros (3.28 billion U.S. dollars).

While welcoming the extra subsidies, Jimenez warned: "There still needs to be more from the government to encourage people to get involved in electric mobility. I think we are still very far from what we see in the rest of Europe and the world."

The number of charging points available in the Spanish network is not the only issue, but also how many of them are fast charging stations. Anfac says that only 8.6 percent (4,008 stations) of Spain's charging points are fast, a mere 0.2 percent more than at the end of the previous quarter.

Nevertheless, EV sales in Spain continue to grow. Anfac's figures show that sales of electric vehicles (pure electric and plug-in hybrids) totaled 25,327 units in the first two months of this year, up 35.9 percent from the same period in 2024. Enditem

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