The European Union needs three million electric vehicle charge points in place by 2030 if it is to meet its climate neutral goals be 2050.

And it will have to spend €20 billion to achieve this, according to the EU’s sustainable transport think tank Transport and Environment.

A report from T&E suggests there could be up to 44 million electric vehicles in the EU by 2030, which would require three million chargers to accommodate the increasing demand for public and private charge points. That’s more than 15 times the 185,000 currently in place.

T&E says the deployment of public charge points should be distributed fairly across Europe to make sure all countries have the same chance to shift towards zero-emission vehicles.

To pay for this infrastructure overhaul, it suggests the EU could dip into the European investment plan fund. It would cost about €1.74bn per year until 2030, equivalent to about three per cent of the EU’s annual spend on road infrastructure today.

Lucien Mathieu, T&E emobility analyst, said: “The Green Deal for transport can only happen with zero-emission infrastructure. This means putting money into setting up the network of public chargers, especially at home and at work, and not in building more fossil gas pipelines.

“So far, the number of charging points has kept pace with demand, but the coming electric surge needs to be supercharged by vastly expanding the charging network.

“The shift to EVs will create a multi-billion-euro market opportunity for European industry in the grid works, and manufacturing, installation and maintenance of public charging. The EU must do everything it can to fight the climate emergency while supporting jobs in Europe.”