⚡ EU announces Funding Recipients for Heavy Duty Charging Infrastructure 💶

Happy LUNAR NEW YEAR, to our readers in Asia 🎆. This is Electric Avenue, the EV newsletter that delivers more BANG per BUCK than a Chinese firecracker 🧨

Here’s what we have for you today:

• Poll Results - 2025 EV Expectations ⚡️

• EU Funding for Heavy Duty Charging Infrastructure 💶

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

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Let's dive in!

⚡️ Poll Results - 2025 EV Expectations

In our first post this year, we ran a quick poll with you all to uncover what trends have you most excited for the future of electric mobility in 2025. Here's what y’all had to say:

The Winner 🥇 : 🚗 CO2 targets driving EV sales in Europe took the lead with 16 votes. With tighter emissions regulations, automakers are doubling down on electrification, and consumers are responding enthusiastically.

Thank you to everyone who participated! ☺️ 

EU Funding for Heavy Duty Charging Infrastructure 💶

Last week, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) announced the funding results of the first cut-off date for the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility 2 (AFIF 2) call for proposals

The European Union is investing €422 million in 39 projects to enhance alternative fuel infrastructure across the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). While we focus on funding for charging point operators, the fund also supports the installation of 35 hydrogen refueling stations and the electrification of ground handling services in 8 airport and 9 ports.

Let’s have a look at the numbers:

• Total Funding 💶 : Over €297 million has been allocated to major charge point operators across Europe.

• Total Charge Points 🔌 : 3,744: Light-Duty Vehicle (LDV) Charge Points: 2,761

  Heavy-Duty Vehicle (HDV) Charge Points: 1,996

• Top Recipient 🥇 : Milence received the highest funding (€111M) to deploy 548 HDV charge points across multiple countries.

• Best Cost Efficiency 📉 : EESTI ENERGIA AS and LATVENERGO AS have the lowest cost per charge point (€20,000).

• Heavy-Duty Focus in EU Funding 🚚 : Milence, E.ON Drive Infrastructure, and Axionet are leading in HDV charging, with over 400 charge points each.

Quick Thought 💭

This funding will give a major boost to Heavy-Duty EV charging across Europe, driving zero-emission freight transport along the Trans-European Transport Network.

While national programs like Deutschlandnetz have focused on passenger EV infrastructure, the TEN-T initiative highlights key priorities:

1. Less need for passenger EV funding as TEN-T corridor infrastructure is already well-developed.

2. Urgent demand for HDV charging, where availability is still limited.

3. Higher cost per charge point due to the need for megawatt chargers with greater power capacity.

Update 13th of Februar: The graphic and total numbers were updated. Raw data is taken from the published project list (Link)

3 Links 🔗

• 400kW peak charging for Lucid Gravity🔋: In light of starting deliveries for its 2nd electric model, the Lucid Gravity SUV, the company announced improved charging capabilities compared to the Lucid Air. The Gravity will come with up to 400kW peak charging rate and is capable of recharging up to 200 miles of range in ~20 minutes. Together with the MY2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5, the Gravity is one of the first two non-Tesla vehicles coming to market with a native NACS chargeport. While Air is limited to ~50kW boost charging on Tesla’s low voltage Supercharger network (see ⚡️ High Voltage - Low Charging 😕 ), the Gravity has improved Boost capabilities of up to 225kW. (Lucid Press Release)

• DeepSeek powers Chinese EVs 🇨🇳: Voyah’s latest models, Zhiyin and Dream, are integrating DeepSeek AI, bringing real-time AI chat, multi-command recognition, and creative features to the smart cockpit. (Link)

• Nio Battery Swap Commercial 🎥 : Have a quick laugh watching Nio’s commercial on battery swapping for its ONVO brand to escape the cold. Fun fact: Nio hit a new record of 136,720 single-day swaps during the Chinese New Year break! (Link)

Most-clicked link last week: Was BMW’s premiere video of the Panoramic iDrive infotainment system (Link to the video).

Meme of the Week 🤡

🤣

Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️ Pretty decent on ⚡ 2025 EV Expectations: What’s Charging Up the Industry Next? 🚗💡and wrote:

“Happy new year! ;-)”

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.