The motivation to move to electric vehicles is pressing and undeniable. Transport accounts for an estimated 37% of global CO² emissions¹, with road travel the largest proportion of the total, according to the International Energy Agency.

Countries around the globe have set deadlines on the production of new internal combustion engine vehicles that run on petrol or diesel. The whole of EU has banned the sale of new combustion engine cars by 2035.
Governments have been laying down further laws to propel the shift. For example, France passed the Loi d’Orientation des Mobilités (LOM) in 2019 which specified that carparks must have 5% of charging spaces for electric vehicles.
Yet, while there is political motivation and a climate imperative, much of the infrastructure still needs to be constructed. France has the second-largest EV charging capacity in Europe, having recently passed 100,000 public chargers, representing roughly one charger per 6.5 electric cars on the road². However, with 39 million registered cars on the road across the country³, many more facilities need to be developed to accommodate the transition.
The scenario presents a compelling long-term infrastructure investment opportunity, but there are challenges to overcome. As a new investment class, risks need to be fully understood and partnerships need to be clearly aligned with land owners and operators.
However, doing so can help unlock senior financing that can drive more cost-effective and rapid deployment of charging infrastructure to meet ambitious climate and mobility targets.

Sources:
¹ https://www.iea.org/topics/transport
² https://www.thelocal.fr/20230504/france-marks-100000th-charging-point-for-electric-cars
³ https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?-
title=Passenger_cars_in_the_EU#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20number%20of,France%20(39%20million
%20cars)

Building an EV Charging Partnership

Carrefour is not only the second-largest supermarket retailer in France with a market share of roughly 20%, but also one of the largest in the world, present in more than 30 countries and reaching 104 million households each year.
As such, the partnership between Meridiam and Carrefour is an opportunity to deploy EV charging across one of the largest and strongest footprints in France, leveraging Meridiam’s expertise in infrastructure investment and financing, Allego’s experience in managing EV charging networks, and Carrefour’s experience in retail and customer loyalty. Allego is the leading European public EV charging network whose major shareholder is Meridiam through its transition fund.
Following our agreement, we ran workshops to understand the requirements and define a successful project. This was supplemented by planning sessions to develop a solution based around the following key objectives:

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