The motorway charging network promises to grow rapidly. Following the agreement between some of the world's most important car manufacturers for the creation of 400 ultra-fast stations along the arteries of the Old Continent, now Enel, Italy's main energy provider, is also moving to encourage the uptake of battery-powered vehicles. The company that was once the national electricity board – today a privatised joint-stock company with predominantly public ownership – has won a European tender for the installation of 180 charging points along Italian motorways.

Charging points in Italy and Austria for an electric corridor

The project envisages the creation of genuine "electric corridors" along Italy's main motorway arteries, to be supplemented by 20 charging stations in Austria. Work is about to begin and reflects the growing interest in electric mobility, including over long distances. It is no coincidence that Carlo Tamburi, director of Enel Italia, stated that "there is no contest between electric and gas propulsion: emissions from battery-powered cars are less than half those of vehicles running on hydrocarbons and methane. And things will keep improving, given that renewables today stand at 37 per cent." This is a vision shared by manufacturers who, having established the milestone of 300 kilometres of range, are now confidently looking towards 500 kilometres per charge for the new models expected over the next decade. A technical development that would make the prospect of travelling zero-emission over long distances even more tangible.

The new motorway charging points should allow drivers to travel from Enna to Trento without any energy supply problems

Enel has already launched memoranda of understanding for the installation of the motorway charging points. Work is expected to begin before the end of the year

In addition to installing motorway charging points, Enel aims to make Vehicle to Grid technology a reality, whereby electric cars will be able to both receive and feed energy back into the grid

As well as the installation of charging points, the development of the motorway charging network will lead to the creation of further dedicated infrastructure for electric cars

To date, Enel can count on around 2,000 charging points, distributed mainly within large cities

The charging points that Enel will install on motorways will allow two vehicles to be charged simultaneously in 20–30 minutes

The new motorway charging points are expected to have a power output of 150 kW — high, but below the 350 kW promised across Europe under the agreement signed by some of the leading vehicle manufacturers

To date, the most powerful charging point on the Old Continent is located in Switzerland, more precisely at the San Gottardo Sud service area in Stalvedro (near Airolo, in the Canton of Ticino), and has a capacity of 150 kW

20,000 charging points expected for one million vehicles

Enel's installation of motorway charging points forms part of a broader electric project based on studies conducted in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milan and Bocconi University. The aim is to determine the exact number of charging stations needed to meet the current and future energy requirements of battery-powered vehicles in Italy. The outcome of this work should lead in the near term to the installation of almost 20,000 high-capacity connectors, sufficient to power one million cars with a minimum range of 150 kilometres. It is an ambitious plan on which a government incentive scheme was intended to be grafted, designed to encourage the uptake of zero-emission vehicles along the lines of what has been achieved in Germany and Northern European countries. An initiative that was at an advanced stage of study under the government led by Matteo Renzi, but has now been left uncertain by the political earthquake that followed the constitutional referendum of 4 December. All that remains is to await the decisions of the new government.