One of the primary challenges toward an electrified future in the transportation sector is the limited access to electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, according to a S&P Global Mobility consumer survey conducted in 2022. Few EVs on the road meant a low return on investment for charging station operators, leading to inadequate deployment, which in turn dissuaded potential customers from buying EVs. To break the circle, it has been imperative for authorities to support and incentivize the deployment of charging infrastructure to instill confidence in buyers and accelerate the EV uptake in their region.

Several governments across the world have taken responsibility to expand the EV charging infrastructure, private and public, which has started showing results. The number of AC and DC chargers installed globally grew from roughly 3 million in 2019 to more than 10 million in 2022. In 2023, this will increase to more than 15 million globally, and crossing 70 million in 2030. These figures include domestic and public/semipublic chargers.

The recently published Electric Vehicles Supply Equipment (EVSE) incentive tracker by S&P Global Mobility captures all the key EVSE incentive programs in leading EV markets. The tracker looks at incentives offered for all the domains, ranging from domestic, workplace, public and semipublic for both AC and DC charging stations.

The report also covers the type of incentives offered and what aspects of a charger installation are eligible for the incentives, which might range from only installation costs to installation and hardware costs and more comprehensive eligibility covering installation, hardware, and grid connection costs. The tracker highlights that the incentive programs vary significantly from one country to the other, depending on the prevailing market priorities.

Along with the subsidy amount, it is also important for the beneficiaries to know how the incentives are being offered. Different strategies are being adopted by the countries and the incentives are offered in different forms such as direct cash benefits, grants, equipment rebates, and tax deductions.

As visible in the chart above, not all countries are pursuing the same strategy when it comes to promoting charging-station deployment. Countries such as Switzerland see the strategic importance of domestic infrastructure with a level of subsidization that is on average twice that of the following countries, specifically targeting the consumer who wants to invest in bidirectional chargers.

In the AC and DC public and semipublic domain, Germany is in the lead with maximum incentives of $13,000 and $120,000, respectively, for AC and DC infrastructure. Significant attention is paid to the coverage of grid connection costs, which sometimes can be higher than the charging station itself. The European country has announced several policies to quicken the pace of electrification of the automotive industry, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, which can also be seen in the countries following Germany in the list that are offering incentives ranging from about $1,000-$9,000 for AC chargers to more than $100,000 for DC chargers.

For more information on the various incentive programs that are active across the major EV markets, download the EVSE Incentive Tracker.
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This article was published by S&P Global Mobility and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.