EV charging growth plans are slowed by the EU’s power grid problems. There are around 1,600 charging stations in Spain owned by Repsol (REP.MC), and roughly half of them are inactive since they do not have a power connection. Electric vehicle drivers who hope to recharge their batteries at one of these stations may be disappointed.

These deficiencies are seen throughout the European Union, where the European Commission announced intentions to improve the electricity infrastructure of the union just the week before. In addition to alleviating power shortages at electric vehicle charging stations, they will be implemented during the next 18 months.

Nevertheless, despite the statements made by its leaders, the number of bureaucratic hurdles hindering progress towards greener mobility in the EU is increasing, according to industry organizations and energy businesses that spoke with Reuters. Permitting is one of the most significant obstacles.

The simplicity with which an electric vehicle charging hub may be constructed varies significantly from nation to nation. According to a source within the business, a hub in Germany was halted for many months due to regulations that protected a single tree, while another hub situated on a busy highway had to wait ten months for a noise test before it was granted clearance.

“Although installing a fast and ultra-fast charging point requires only two to three weeks of work, due to different administrative requirements in Spain, the complete process … can last from one to two years,” according to Repsol.

Even though the Commission acknowledged that permission was a concern, the industry organization ChargeUp Europe stated that it had not provided any meaningful instruments or steps to address the issue. It is only anticipated that specific rules for member states to expedite the permission process will be implemented at some point over the next two years, as indicated by the plan schedule.

The implementation of charging centers across the 27-member bloc is being slowed down, which puts the European Union’s plans to phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles and its larger climate goals in jeopardy.

A representative for the Commission stated in an email response that “the time needed for connecting the electric vehicle recharging points to the grid can indeed be seen as a barrier to accelerating the uptake of electric vehicles and needs to be tackled.”

According to four electric vehicle charging businesses and a sector representative, establishing a fast electric vehicle station has increased to an average of two years, up from six months in the previous few years. This is because companies are navigating many regulations, ranging from the federal level to the local level.

It is a combination of Kafka and the energy transition. Lucie Mattera, secretary general of ChargeUp Europe, told Reuters that although there are a lot of factors that are working against Europe, there is a possibility that we may remedy this.

The number of electric vehicles (EVs) is expected to increase faster than the total number of public charging stations, which ChargeUp Europe projects will increase by nine times by the year 2030, while the number of EVs will increase by ten.

The electrification of transportation is one of several crucial pillars supporting the European Union’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2050. It plans to establish a network of electric vehicle charging stations and will prohibit the sale of automobiles producing carbon dioxide beginning in 2035.

This goal has resulted in bottlenecks for power providers and regulators who were unprepared for the European Union (EU) spike in demand, where just 5.4% of passenger cars, out of 286 million, are powered by alternative fuels, including electric vehicles.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Portuguese energy company EDP, Miguel Stilwell de Andrade, stated in a statement that “it is now up to the member states to step up.” He also stated that “there is just an avalanche of projects.”

This year, the European Union (EU) passed a rule that mandates the installation of fast chargers throughout approved road networks at intervals of sixty kilometers for passenger cars and one hundred kilometers for heavy-duty vehicles by the year 2030.

On the other hand, charge developers claim that collecting fundamental data about potential hubs is a significant obstacle, which makes investments difficult.

To accomplish this, it is necessary to determine if a typical rest stop along the side of the road has a single light or sufficient cabling that links to the larger grid. An additional electrical substation, which is responsible for converting high-voltage power into smaller units, is frequently required by hubs.

Following this step, requests are made to power distribution companies (DSOs) to allow additional capacity installation. “Sometimes we have to send physical mail,” said Peter Badik, co-founder of Greenway Network, an electric vehicle charging company that has installed 1,300 electric vehicle chargers in Slovakia, Croatia, and Poland.

Batik made the claim and added that there was currently no way to keep track of the rate at which a power provider was expanding its capacity. “Even when they say yes, you don’t know when they will do the upgrade,” explained Batik.

Executives from the industry stated that the EU objectives were set low and were thus likely to be fulfilled. Still, it is possible that they will not match the demand for the expanding electric vehicle fleet of automobiles and trucks.

A powerful industrial impulse is driving the construction of hubs for electric vehicles, but this is not yet the case for long-distance trucks and buses. More than 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to the European Union (EU) transportation sector, which is responsible for a fifth of the total emissions produced by the bloc.

In Germany alone, BP must negotiate with over 800 grid businesses to establish rapid hubs for automobiles and trucks. The company anticipates rolling out more than 100,000 charging stations for automobiles and trucks worldwide by 2030.

According to Stefan van Dobschuetz, vice president of BP Pulse Europe, “Many have individual requirements that can significantly hinder progress.” He also mentioned that this was before additional noise and archeology licenses were submitted.

BP’s van Dobschuetz went on to say that there is an obvious necessity for a greater degree of standardization regarding the standards for charging hubs.

In response to this appeal, Mattera, who works with ChargeUp Europe, stated that recommendations from the Commission will most likely assist EU nations in aligning their efforts, given that the rate of new initiatives differs throughout the area.