“The licensing process is torture – and it is torture in Spain and Portugal – we have projects that are on hold because of the licensing process, or because we are waiting for the connection point, or for the [Municipal] City Council to issue a document”, lamented Guillermo Soler, in an interview with Lusa news agency.

The official pointed out that the administrative process for installing electric vehicle charging points takes longer than the installation of the equipment itself.

However, he pointed out that, since the stations have been installed, the electric mobility system is more developed than in Spain, also highlighting the advantage of the Mobi.E network, which brings together the majority of charging stations available for public use throughout the country.

Last week, the president of the Association of Electric Vehicle Users (UVE), Pedro Faria, advocated strengthening the electric vehicle charging network during a conference promoted by the National Entity for the Energy Sector (ENSE), in Lisbon.

Pedro Faria reported cases in which a charging point is ready to operate, but it takes almost two years to get the necessary power. “Currently, we have an unacceptable situation on the motorways, no one is going to switch to electric mobility if they see five cars queuing to charge at the service station, we are facing huge difficulties”, he warned.

On this subject, the association believes that the law should be revised to speed up the installation and start-up of stations, and gave the example of France, where the concession for service stations was separated from that for electric charging stations.