EV Charging Stations for Local Authorities and On-Street: The Guide for Municipalities

For a municipality, deploying charging stations on public streets and in public facilities is no longer a matter for the future: it is a concrete expectation of residents, a driver of attractiveness and, in some areas, a component of a low-carbon mobility policy. But between streets, public car parks and municipal buildings, the technical and regulatory constraints differ significantly. This guide is intended for elected officials and technical departments, to help them ask the right questions before committing to a durable, interoperable rollout.

Why municipalities deploy charging stations

Installing public charging points is, first and foremost, a matter of local public service. As the share of electric vehicles grows, a portion of residents — particularly those without private parking — can only charge away from home. The municipality then becomes a provider of local charging.

Several motivations come together:

• Access for everyone. Residents in multi-unit housing without parking, visitors and passing commuters all depend on public provision to charge.
• The attractiveness of the area. A municipality equipped with visible, reliable charging stations sends a signal to local businesses, tourism and new residents.
• The challenges linked to low-emission zones. Where low-emission zones are being introduced, supporting the transition to electric also means providing accessible charging infrastructure.

The rollout is therefore not only technical: it is a planning decision, one that spans the long term and reflects on the image of the local authority.

Streets, public car parks, municipal buildings: three distinct contexts

People often refer to "municipal charging stations" as if they were a single category. In practice, three very different situations arise, each with its own constraints.

On-street

Installing a charging station in the public space, along a street or in a square, is the most demanding case. You have to factor in occupation of the public domain, signage, pedestrian safety, accessibility for people with reduced mobility, grid connection and integration into the urban furniture. These charging stations are by nature open to all and operate on a free-access basis.

Public car parks

Town-centre car parks, transport hubs, the surroundings of public facilities: these spaces are often simpler to equip than streets alone, because the local authority has greater control over the site. Access management and parking regulation (duration, turnover) play an important role here.

Municipal buildings

Town hall, schools, sports halls, municipal technical centres: these sites often combine internal use (municipal fleet, staff) and, sometimes, public use during certain time slots. The logic then resembles that of a company car park, with access management and possible cost re-billing.

Each of these contexts calls for appropriate sizing, power output and access mode. Mixing approaches leads to poorly calibrated installations.

Interoperability and roaming: one card, everywhere

This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of public rollouts, and yet the most decisive for the user experience. A public charging station only makes sense if any driver can charge there, whatever their mobility operator.

Two concepts need to be distinguished:

• Interoperability. The ability of a charging station to communicate with different monitoring systems and platforms, thanks to open protocols such as OCPP. An interoperable charging station is not locked into a single supplier.
• Roaming. The ability for a user to use their usual card or app on a charging station operated by another party, just as you use a bank card in any shop.

For a municipality, the objective must be clear from the specifications stage: an open, interoperable charging station accessible through roaming, so that a passing visitor can charge without having to create a specific account. A "closed" or proprietary charging station degrades both the service and the image of the local authority.

Requiring interoperability and openness to roaming from the design stage avoids becoming trapped in a single ecosystem and guarantees a genuinely public service.

Monitoring and availability: the heart of reliability

A public charging station that is out of order means an unusable service and an immediate hit to the municipality's image. Monitoring is therefore essential: it is the system that controls the charging stations remotely and tracks their status.

In concrete terms, a monitored charging station makes it possible to:

• Track availability in real time and detect faults without waiting for a user to report them.
• Manage power output to distribute load across several charging points and avoid exceeding the connection capacity.
• Manage access and pricing, distinguishing where relevant between public users and the municipal fleet.
• Track consumption for reporting, billing and optimising the rollout.

Availability is a key indicator for a local authority: it is what determines user satisfaction. A monitored infrastructure, combined with a responsive maintenance arrangement, is what distinguishes a durable rollout from an installation that deteriorates over the months.

Funding: ADVENIR and support for charging

Deploying charging stations represents an investment, but support schemes exist for local authorities. ADVENIR does not fund chargers in individual houses. Projects in apartment buildings may qualify; for other uses, check the relevant scheme and confirm eligibility before work begins.

The amounts, coverage rates, caps and conditions of these subsidies change regularly and depend on the nature of the project and the area. That is why we do not quote figures that would quickly become outdated: the right approach is to have the eligibility and the scale in force at the time of the project verified.

Other levers can complement funding depending on your situation: regional or departmental support, schemes run by energy syndicates, or integrating charging into a broader development project. Only deduct a grant from your budget after the project’s eligibility and payment conditions have been confirmed.