Charging Stations and Electromobility Development: A Cross-Country Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The Industry 4.0 idea influences the development of both charging stations and electromobility development, due to its emphasis on device communication, cooperation, and proximity. Therefore, in electromobility development, growing attention is paid to chargers’ infrastructure density and automotive electric vehicles’ accessibility. The main goal of this scientific paper was to present the electromobility development represented in the number of charging stations and its infrastructure development calculations. In this study, the sequence of methods was used to indicate and explore the research gap. The first was the Structured Literature Review (SLR) variation method. The second method was the classical tabular comparison of gathered results. The third research method was a cluster analysis based on secondary data with cross-country comparisons of the number of charging stations and electric cars. Therefore, this paper presents a theoretical discussion and practical business implications based on the achieved results of clusters and rankings. The main finding of this paper is that charging stations play a pivotal role in electromobility development in countries with already developed road infrastructure and maritime transportation. The charging stations can support energetic infrastructure, especially in countries with vast geographical distances. The charging stations and electric vehicles statistics presented in ratios and ranks proved similarities in the electromobility development patterns in the analyzed countries. This paper also presents the limitations of the performed study and identifies possible future research avenues.