An impulse for the development of electric car charging infrastructure in January

- We have read world trends well. Poland is already the largest exporter of car batteries in the European Union, and the demand for lithium-ion batteries produced in our country, necessary in the production of electric vehicles, is constantly and dynamically growing. It is the number one Polish export product today. Even in the difficult, pandemic year 2020, their exports recorded the largest annual increase in sales, as a single item in the statistics of Polish foreign trade - emphasizes Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński. - This is one of the elements of the government's strategy for the development of broadly understood electromobility in Poland, including electrification of individual and collective transport, and thus - reducing the number of vehicles emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) on Polish roads. The new program of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management aimed at supporting the charging infrastructure for electric and hydrogen vehicles is an important complement to this strategic line of development, adds the deputy head of the Ministry of Climate and Environment.

Car batteries and the entire power supply and service system for "electricians" is now sometimes called "crude oil of the 21st century". The government, as Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki emphasized many times, intends to make Poland a kind of "battery industrial hub" on a European and even global scale. In our country, not only the production of ready-made cells is developing very quickly, but also many necessary components and subassemblies for them, such as: separators, electrolytes, cables, electrotechnical elements. The same, in terms of both manufacturing and technological advances, applies to the 'loader' sector and the hydrogen economy. Public aid implemented through NFEPWM priority programs is of great importance in this process.

- Financial support directed by our institution to these future industries undoubtedly contributes to creating a competitive advantage of Polish companies in the increasingly important branch of the European economy, which is the charger and battery industry. The rightness of these actions is confirmed by the hitherto successes of Polish companies on the global market, emphasizes the president of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, Maciej Chorowski. - It is also an ecological challenge, as the goal is to produce batteries with a lower carbon footprint than before, to avoid and prevent environmental pollution and to create an efficient and effective recycling system for car batteries. In our current activities and plans, we attach particular importance to climate and environmental issues, adds the head of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.

New program

- The launch of the program by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management to support the expansion of electric vehicle charging infrastructure is a very important step towards quantitative and qualitative development of the infrastructure market in Poland, based on DC stations. The principles of co-financing have been the subject of many analyzes and consultations carried out by the PSPA, thanks to which they correspond to a number of industry postulates - admits Maciej Mazur, Managing Director of the Polish Alternative Fuels Association. - It should be emphasized that the program provides for correspondingly higher subsidies to high-power stations, allowing the use of the potential of new generation electric cars. According to the forecasts of the Polish EV Outlook, by 2025 there should be at least 43,000 public points in Poland by 2025. Without the implementation of subsidies and an effective subsidy mechanism, it will not be possible to achieve this result - adds the head of the PSPA.

- Investments in efficient and modern charging infrastructure are crucial for the further development of the electromobility market. In order to give more people the chance to use an electric car, we must ensure that each potential user has easy and universal access to the charging stations. If there is no such device in the garage, it is necessary to build public infrastructure. This is one of the key challenges to which the co-financing program responds - notes Krzysztof Burda, President of the Polish Chamber of Electromobility Development. - It is also an opportunity for companies that already want to invest in zero-emission fleets. The support program will be a great help for them in investing in their charging stations or it will encourage completely new entities to switch to electromobility - concludes the head of PIRE.

It should be noted that the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in the coming years will allocate a total of PLN 1.87 billion to the development of charging and refueling infrastructure for electric vehicles. From this amount of money, PLN 1 billion will be allocated to the development of the electricity network for electric vehicle chargers, and the aforementioned amount of PLN 870 million from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management will support investments in stations and car charging stations as well as hydrogen refueling stations.