New law ends Portugal's EV charging monopoly
As of last week, Portuguese businesses wishing to install EV charging points may do so due to a change of law ending the monopoly on charging infrastructure historically held by the Mobi.ie consortium. The newly revised law states that &ldquo;the licensing of operational activities for charging points is thus simplified in order to stimulate the emergence, within a competitive environment, of new operators whether with national or local coverage.&rdquo;
Parties interested in opening an electric car charging station may do so as from last Thursday, following the publication of the respective legislation in the official gazette, bringing an end to the monopoly held by the Mobi.e consortium since 2010.

By TPN/Lusa, in News · 13 Aug 2015, 13:41 · 0 Comments

The new revised law decree states that “the licensing of operational activities for charging points is thus simplified in order to stimulate the emergence, within a competitive environment, of new operators whether with national or local coverage.”

This reform brings to an end the monopoly formerly attributed to Mobi.e, a consortium backed by Efacec, Inteli, CEIIA – CE and Novabase and represents the implementation of a commitment assumed by the government in April of last year.

The new legislation spans all of the authorisation necessary to undertake electric vehicle battery charging and maintaining the respective infrastructures and ending what a Council of Ministers statement from April 2014 referred to as “the constraints on recharging” that had rendered the publicly backed network “inefficient.”

The current Mobi.e network contains over a thousand recharging posts in around 20 different councils with the government thus aiming to roll this out nationwide in what the car industry perceives as a key step towards widespread take up of battery powered cars.

Whilst figures from ACAP – the Portuguese Automobile Association point to 145% and 285% growth in sales of electric powered cars and hybrids, the respective totals of 187 and 100 together represent but a drop in the overall car pool.

In Portugal, electric cars account for only 0.3% of sales with the country’s 4.5 million vehicles containing only 900 electric vehicles, 500 plug-in and 15,000 conventional hybrids.

Nevertheless, government plans themselves will significantly boost those figures with the Eco-Mob programme foreseeing the state acquiring 1,200 electric-powered vehicles through to 2020.