Market Trends of Europe Transportation Infrastructure Construction Industry
Rise in European investment in Transport Infrastructure
The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU's vehicle for strategic investment in transport infrastructure, has selected 107 transport infrastructure projects to receive approximately EUR 6 billion (USD 6.31 billion) in EU grants. On the trans-European transport (TEN-T) network, more than 80% of the funds will go into initiatives that will create a more effective, environmentally friendly, and intelligent network of railroads, inland waterways, and maritime routes. Additionally, projects will likely support the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes, which were established to ease Ukraine's exports and imports.
The TEN-TEN core network's major cross-border rail connections have also been given funding priority. These include, among others, the cross-border stretch between Germany and the Netherlands (Emmerich-Oberhausen), the Brenner Base tunnel (connecting Italy and Austria), Rail Baltica (connecting the three Baltic States and Poland with the rest of Europe), and others. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions from moored vessels, maritime ports in Ireland, Greece, Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Poland will get money for the development of on-shore power supplies. Infrastructure along the Seine-Scheldt cross-border rivers between France and Belgium will be updated to assist in making inland waterway travel future-proof. Additionally upgraded are inland ports on the Danube and Rhine basins, including Vienna and Andernach.
Growth in e-vehicle transportation driving infrastructure market
Despite the pandemic-related construction slowdown, public charging expanded. Access to public charging will need to expand as EV markets grow. Today, the majority of EV charging takes place at people's homes and workplaces. Consumers will increasingly expect EVs to provide the same services, simplicity, and autonomy as conventional vehicles. In 2021, the number of publicly accessible chargers worldwide approached 1.8 million, with fast chargers accounting for one-third of the total. In 2021, nearly 500,000 chargers were installed. The number of publicly accessible chargers increased by 37% in 2021, compared to 45% in 2020 and pre-pandemic rollout rates. Between 2015 and 2019, the average annual growth rate was nearly 50%.
Europe was projected to be second with over 300,000 slow chargers in 2021, a 30% increase year over year. The Netherlands leads Europe with over 80,000 slow chargers, with 50,000 in France, 40,000 in Germany, 30,000 in the United Kingdom, 20,000 in Italy, and slightly more than 12,000 in both Norway and Sweden. Public fast chargers make longer journeys easier. As they become more widely available, they will allow for longer trips, encourage consumers who do not have access to private charging to purchase an EV, and address range anxiety as a barrier to EV adoption.
The average EV-to-charger ratio in the European Union in 2021 was 14, up from nearly 11 in 2020 and well above the recommended level of 10. The average kW/EV ratio was slightly higher than 1 kW, which is the level proposed in the AFIR for 2030. Some countries have done a better job of meeting their goals than others, like the Netherlands (5 and 2.6 kW per EV ratio), which used a wide-scale, on-demand, slow charger deployment strategy. In the Netherlands, the proportion of fast chargers remains low, at around 3%. Due to slow charger availability, Italy roughly meets the recommended charger ratios (11 EVs per charger).
