Although the concern about it seems focused on how fast the battery can fill out ——, the real problem for many users is how to load daily if they do not have garage (it is estimated that, in Spain, about 70% of vehicles sleep on the street). Several cities of the United Kingdom and Portugal are already installing loaders in lamps to take advantage of this network, but in Spain that solution collides with the legislation: Valencia tried to install a twenty one and ended up dismantling them. Experts ask to look at the Netherlands model, whose cities put loaders for electric cars on the street – not necessarily in street lamps – when several citizens request them.
“Valencia was a pioneer in the installation, at the end of 2021, of recharge points in Barsoles, with 22 recharge points managed by Iberdrola,” explains Arturo Pérez de Lucía, general director of, the employer of electric mobility. And it continues: “The recharge in alternating current, or of opportunity, is a solution that several European cities are applying, although not necessarily associated with street lamps. Spanish municipalities are not especially open to deploying moderate recharge points on the sidewalks, as it happens in other countries, and advocates taking it to parking lots.”
Pablo de Regoyos, head of Smart Mobility of Iberdrola explains: “Both electricity supply and public lighting have a very specific regulation, which limits that the electrical installations of the lamppost itself cannot be reused, and that it is not easy to share the same channels.” This does not happen in other countries. “With these conditions it is very complicated, even unfeasible to install recharge points in the street lamps. If the regulation allowed it, technically there would be no problem to install this type of points,” he adds.
In fact, Valencia came to install 22 of these loaders and ended up removing them. Luisa Notario was the councilor in charge of doing so: “It was a pioneer project with European financing to explore the way to put loaders in street lamps, which then connected with the application of Iberdrola. It allowed to install a large number of loaders at low cost using the lighting control centers that already have electric connection and optimize to infrastructure of the public lighting during the day. 2023, he removed them. ” The Valencian Consistory does not explain the reason. “Unlike other countries, Spanish legislation prevents the resale of energy, which isolate that supply. If you want to sell it you have to put a second accountant. And that complicates things a lot,” says Jorge Morales, director of next energy and energy expert.
Carlos Carmona, who in 2021 worked in Etra – the manager of the Valencian lighting – points out: “The municipalities are very jealous of how they manage the lighting, which is not intended for a dynamic system to be associated, such as recharges.” He is now a commercial director of Qwello, a company that has already installed 14,000 slow points throughout Europe – although not in lampposts – 53 in Spain: “We design slow loaders (from 7 to 22 kilowatts) more efficient than lamppings, have a card payment system, screen, double connection point and retractable cable.”
From Endesa they point out that the company has developed a solution to load in street lamps since 2019, but has not installed any in Spain. “To do so, the lamppost exploiter should be the same town hall; if the Consistory operates the recharge point, I could not do that ‘resale of energy.” But the usual thing is that companies through concessions, not the consistories themselves. Sources from the Ministry for Ecological Transition explain: “The regulations do not prohibit it, but there are elements that prevent its implementation; for example, the occupation of the road for slow recharge poses problems, so many municipalities prefer to install the recharge points in public parking lots. In addition, the power available for recharge is also something that must be analyzed.”
In other countries the same does not happen. “The Shell Group,” has already installed more than 8,000 recharge points in different cities in the United Kingdom (such as London or Liverpool). “Most of these charging points are installed in existing street lamps, a pioneer solution that Ubitricity introduced into the market in 2016,” they point out on their website. With the same company.
Meanwhile, GALP is testing the same in Portugal. “We have already installed seven points in lamps in Lisbon and Porto. This solution expands the load network in urban environments, reduces the time and installation costs and minimizes the occupation of space,” says a spokesperson. To expand it to Spain “we must guarantee the double use of public lighting posts and the availability of electricity in them outside the night period to feed the loaders.” In addition, “in Portugal, electricity for public lighting is supplied by the operator and paid to the electricity marketer, while in Spain electricity has a special rate for municipalities and cannot be marketed.” In any case, “there is interest of Spanish municipalities in developing this technology.”
Netherlands, successful model
The experts consulted ask to look at the Netherlands model, whose cities put loaders for electric cars anywhere on the street – not necessarily in street lamps – when several citizens request them. With this model they have more than half a million load stations – posts – in national territory, according to the report presented in 2023 to Parliament by the National Agency for Recharge Infrastructure.
In general, in the Netherlands the food sources of the posts are not the street lamps, because it is considered that this connection to the network is too weak. Anyway, there are projects that include lighting because the national objectives to alleviate the change of weather expect that by 2030 all new cars are electric, and there may already be about two million in circulation in the country – today, they are 1.3 million between plug -in and electric hybrids of the total of 9.4 million cars, according to the RAI association, which represents manufacturers and importers of vehicles. In fact, some municipalities, such as Arnhem, located to the east, are testing what they call “load lantern”: it is a lamppost combined with a charger with a technological development superior to that of the classical urban lighting.
Whether or not, the slow recharge points for public use are very simple to install: in the big Dutch cities, the City Council is requested and we must not pay for management. Once the petition is approved, the municipality subcontracts the placement and operation to a company of the branch. They pass between four and six months until everything is ready, and there is the possibility that is located in front of the user’s house or several streets away in the same neighborhood. A mobile telephony application shows all the public nature and indicates whether or not they are occupied. The electric rate depends on each town hall and can be flat, or with additional costs depending on the energy company.
Slow load stations fill the battery in about 6 to 10 hours and are used especially in houses, companies, parking or shopping centers. The maximum capacity is usually between 7.4 and 22 kilowatts (kW). The rapids, which are usually on highways and gas stations, complete the work between 20 and 50 minutes with a maximum capacity of 50 kW to 350 kW. In addition, they can be for public use (for any citizen) or private (associated with a vehicle).
Private are more frequent outside the big cities where houses can have their own land, for example, a garage input, to place the post. They do not need local government permission, but it is a good idea to ask for approval if the cable reaches the sidewalk or passes through a public land. The National Cargo Infrastructure Agency (NAL, at Dutch acronym) estimates that in rural regions, especially east of the country, 82% of drivers with these cars have the station at home. The national average is 67%.
Given the increase in these cars park, “intelligent recharge” tests are being done to prevent the capacity of the electricity from overflowing. Large companies, such as Stedin have proposed to turn off the load stations between 16.00 and 21.00: they are the peak hours of the afternoon and in the trials cars are slower slowly.
