Israel Expects Half Of New Cars Sold In 2030 To Be EVs

Israel is preparing for a massive roll-out of electric vehicles (EVs) on its roads over the next decade and is instructing its cities to build hundreds of charging points to accommodate what could be half of all new vehicles sold in the country in 2030.

The Israeli Energy Ministry is expected to send this week a guide to all municipalities on how to work on increasing the number of charging points in each city, citing the guide it has reviewed.

"According to the forecast, in less than five years, there will be a demand for tens of thousands of charging stations in Israel, thousands of which will be public. And in less than a decade hundreds of thousands of charging stations will be required, according to conservative estimates,"

The guide is compiled by the Alternative Fuels Administration in the Prime Minister's Office and the Samuel Neaman Institute for national policy research.

The forecasts in the guide say that demand for public charging stations in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, and Rishon Lezion is expected at more than 100 public charging stations by 2020.

EV penetration in Israel is currently low. Estimates from the energy ministry, show that just 1,000 vehicles out of Israel's three million private vehicle fleet are electric cars, while another 12,000 vehicles are hybrids.

According to forecasts in the guide, the EV market share in Israel will be 3 percent in 2020 and then rise to 16 percent in 2025, and reach up to 51 percent of all new vehicle sales in 2030.

Last year, Israel's energy ministry said it would grant US$3.5 million (12 million Israeli shekels) to 33 local authorities, 148 sites, and 9 companies to install 2,500 new electric charging points across the country.

"This important move is part of my vision to wean the State of Israel from polluting energy sources by the year 2030," Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said last year.