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Q-Park is to install 4,000 EV charging points in its French car parks by 2025, to comply with legislation and attract electric vehicles (EVs). With an investment of around EUR 20 million, the plan is to install 1,000 EV charging points from 2022, then accelerate the rollout with 1,500 in 2023 and 2024, for a total of 4,000 in the 126,000 parking spaces that the group operates in 70 French cities.

Q-Park has selected IZIVIA, an EDF subsidiary dedicated to electric mobility, for a three-year contract. This enables the deployment of more than 4,000 new semi-fast EV charging points (7/22 kW) in city centres. The EV charging points will be accessible to all IZIVIA customers and, thanks to interoperability, to subscribers of other mobility operators. Online payment by credit card will also be possible.

The installation is now subject to very strict standards, sometimes differing from one local authority to another, which generate significant costs for the operators, not covered by the revenue generated by the service (creation of fire walls, installation of sprinklers - fire-fighting system, etc.). Moreover, these EV charging points, all installed in city centres, generate higher costs and are more complex to deploy than those in shopping centres or on the edge of motorways.

"Our ambition is to bring this EV charging service to the heart of the city," says Michèle Salvadoretti, managing director of Q-Park France. Fire safety constraints make it more expensive to install EV charging stations underground: the first stations will be installed on the first floors of car parks, where it is easiest, and in particular in the underground car parks of La Défense, where demand is high.

Christelle Vives, Managing Director of IZIVIA says "IZIVIA is very proud to have been selected by Q-Park to facilitate electric mobility in the heart of cities in this major project. IZIVIA will supply and install the EV charging stations financed by Q-Park, ensure their proper operation over time through its supervision and maintenance services and provide assistance to users if needed. IZIVIA reinforces its role as a leader in the operation of EV charging stations open to the public in France."

The law on the orientation of mobility (LOM), voted in 2019, requires one parking space in 20 to be connected in the car parks of existing company buildings, and 20% of spaces in new car parks to be pre-equipped. Public aid covers 60% of the supply and installation costs. The studies and work required to install the charging stations will be carried out by Izivia, a subsidiary of EDF, which will then be responsible for their management.

The charging stations planned by Q-Park are aimed at EV motorists and deliver a power of 7 to 22 kilowatts, allowing an EV to be recharged in two to four hours. The tariff proposed at launch is favourable, at EUR 1 per charge and 30 cents per kWh, with no time constraints, i.e. between EUR 15 and 30 per "full tank", depending on the size of the battery. The pricing could change as more and more cars are electrified, to speed up the rotation, Q-Park said.