With their capacity to eliminate fuel emissions and reduce air pollution, switching to an electric vehicle has numerous benefits for the planet. While the advantages of electric vehicles are well-documented, there are still many drivers hesitant to purchase an EV due to logistical concerns like cost and a perceived lack of electric car charging points.
If we are to successfully encourage more drivers to go electric, then the widespread availability of cost-effective EVs and charging stations is imperative. Home EV charging stations are an under-utilised but economical way of charging your electric vehicle at home.
In a bid to discover which European cities were most committed to encouraging the use of electric vehicles, the EV charging experts at Uswitch conducted a study on 33 major European cities to find out which places were best equipped to accommodate the use of electric vehicles.
Looking at the four main categories of average charging price, average distance between chargers, average charger power, and the percentage of free electric charging points, we gave each city a combined score out of 10 to determine the best European cities to own an electric vehicle in.
With an overall score of 7.94, Icelandic capital Reykjavik was found to be the best European city in which to own an electric vehicle. Reykjavik fared well in all of our categories, with its average of just 0.55km between EV charging stations the joint second-best score on our list.
With a study best score of 92% for free chargers, Glasgow came second in our study with a final rating of 7.54. Despite obtaining high scores in most categories, Scotland’s most populated city had its score dragged down by a poor average EV charging power score of 17kWh.
Despite having a study-worst score of 1% for free chargers, Lisbon still fared strongly on our list. With excellent scores of €0.17 for average price per kWh and 0.76km for average distance between charging stations, the Portuguese capital obtained an impressive overall score of 7.31.
With a final rating of 7.14, Hungarian capital Budapest was the highest-ranked central European city. With over half of its EV charging stations found to be free and an average charging power of 25kWh, Budapest achieved solid scores in all four of our categories.
Fifth-placed Oslo is the second of three Nordic cities in our top 10. Despite a poor free charger percentage of 8%, the Norwegian capital achieved a final rating of 7.04 thanks largely to its excellent average charger distance of 0.61km.
The remainder of our top 10 is made up of Barcelona, The Hague, Prague, Antwerp, Helsinki, and Amsterdam, with the latter two sharing 10th place. Despite 60% of their electric charging points being free, Barcelona’s underwhelming charging power average of 18kWh prevented it from finishing higher on our list.
With a study best score of 0.48km for average distance between chargers, The Hague had its overall score compromised by a lowly score of 4% for free chargers. A similar story could be found with Prague, whose free charger score of 9% counterbalanced impressive results in the categories of average charger power and average charger price.
With an overall score of 6.76, Belgian capital Antwerp finished ninth in our study. Amsterdam and Helsinki finished joint 10th on our list with both receiving a final rating of 6.63.
