EV Charging Index: Expert insight from Portugal 

By Thomas Schlingensiepen

Portugal’s EV sales penetration rate has seen healthy growth and is ahead of most other European nations. Its charging sufficiency is less impressive, however, and growth in public charging infrastructure should accelerate to meet government targets.

Encouraging growth, but will it be enough?

After its overall score declined in the previous Index, Portugal’s situation improved in 2023 thanks to growth in its EV sales penetration rate (up from 22% to 32%) and its public charging infrastructure (up 34%).

Despite the growth in Portugal’s public charging network, it will be difficult to reach the government’s target of 15,000 charge points by 2025 – there are currently only just over 8,000, although almost half of these are DC chargers. Both the public and private sectors will need to step up to accelerate matters.

Things look better for Portugal’s private charging network, which saw more than 20,000 charging points installed in 2023 – a 60% increase. This underscores the rapidly growing demand for electric mobility and the importance of speeding up infrastructure deployment.

Private funding dominates the charging market

The growth registered in both private and public charging networks was mainly fueled by private investors, with four key players leading the way: Galp, EDP, Atlante, and Powerdot. Together, these companies account for 74% of the total share of public charging points in Portugal.

2023 was also a year of significant M&A activity in the sector. German private equity fund Mutares acquired Efacec, a major Portuguese supplier of electric equipment, which includes EV charging technology. This deal could be an important boost to the Portuguese EV charging landscape as it could strengthen the availability of charging technology in the local market.