Romania is in a new phase of development of the electric mobility market, and the Roland Berger consulting firm expects the local electric car fleet to reach 300,000 to 500,000 units by 2030, said Szabolcs Nemes, managing partner Roland Berger Bucharest.

“Digital advances are key to achieving these figures. Compared to a year ago, we can speak of new developments and trends. For example, this year we will reach and surpass the 50,000 electric cars in the country. 2024 will be the third year in a row in which the share of electric cars in total cars sold will be over 10%,” Nemes said, at the DigitALL 2024 conference organized by Energynomics.

Customers in Romania can choose from 150 available electric car models and Chinese manufacturers are expected to boost the market, especially as they also deliver cheaper models that more people can afford. However, market growth is threatened by the halving of the state subsidy for electric car purchases, which “acts as a brake on sales”. Users are also concerned about the experience of using the charging infrastructure for these cars, which includes affordability, ease of payment and technical support.

Romania now exceeds the level of 2,000 public places with charging infrastructure, with ambitious plans by market players to expand. At the same time, investor interest in this market in Romania is growing, both from investment funds and strategic players, Nemes added.

In his talk, he detailed the main categories of features that describe the user experience. “Whereas until recently a major concern was anxiety about how far an electric car can travel or the cost of the car, now the user experience of charging infrastructure is increasingly becoming an important factor that can either slow or facilitate the development of the market in general.” In Romania, “user perception is less favourable than the international average,” Szabolcs Nemes found.

DigitALL 2024 was organized by Energynomics, in partnership with reputed organizations such as the CIO Council, with the support of our partners: Corning, Datacor, Eaton Electric, Enevo Group, Procesio, Siemens, Sixt, Vertiv.