Do you have a gasoline or diesel car? Normally, from time to time, you stop by a gas station to fill up the tank. It is an action that we have naturalized and does not cause us any headaches, beyond the economic disaster.
But what would happen if you ran out of fuel and didn’t have any service station nearby to refuel? Well, this is a problem that drivers of electric cars often have to face and that, little by little, will affect users of vehicles powered by combustion engines, according to experts.
Right now, with approximately 5% of electric passenger cars circulating in Spain, we see the problem far away. However, the collaborating professor of Economics and Business studies at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) Antoni Cunyat is clear: “Combustion cars will eventually disappear.”
“In fact, the European Council itself has decreed that combustion cars cannot be sold from 2035, something that I doubt will be fulfilled, because there are already countries that have opposed it. What is clear is that combustion cars, Little by little, they will disappear,” he assures RAC1.
The change from one system to the other will not happen overnight. Last year, the Spanish government forced the installation of an electric point at gas stations that had a certain sales volume (close to a thousand in the state as a whole). However, this is not feasible for many modest entrepreneurs: “It is evident that where there is now a combustion gas station, it will not be replaced by an electric charging point. The market is not big enough,” acknowledges the expert.
The situation depends on many factors that make the viability of electrical points where there is now a fuel pump difficult.
“There will not be a pure replacement of gas stations with electric stations, there will be many fewer charging points,” says Cunyat.
“We also have to differentiate small service stations from those installed by large refineries,” he adds. “The small ones will gradually disappear, because charging points require an investment that costs a lot to amortize and perhaps there will not be enough demand. The pie is not enough for everyone,” he continues.
“My opinion is that if we go towards a future with electric stations, there will be many fewer than the gas stations that exist now, and they will be controlled by large companies,” predicts the professor, “even if we reach 90-95% electric car penetration.”
Now new agents are entering the car charging market, such as shopping centers or public parking lots.
Despite clearly seeing that gas stations will be reduced to a minimum, Cunyat does not dare to set deadlines for this transition. “All this will depend a lot on the evolution of technology, because now we are talking about the electric car, but who tells us that research will not succeed and synthetic fuels or hydrogen will end up taking the lead in the market?” indicates the expert. .
“And be careful with electric ones, because they need lithium to make the batteries and function, and lithium is a scarce component. In addition, to produce electricity it is also contaminated in most cases,” he maintains.
This article was originally published on RAC1.
