In accordance with commitments made by France and the European Union, the trajectory to carbon neutrality by 2050 requires the rapid and massive decarbonisation of road transport. Road use accounts for 94% of transport sector emissions, which currently represents 32% of France’s emissions. According to forward-looking scenarios, in particular those developed for France’s National Low-Carbon Strategy (SNBC), road travel is expected to remain the main mode of transport between now and 2050. VINCI Autoroutes firmly believes that, as the back-bone of the road transport system, motorways must be a driving force in accelerating the decarbonisation of road transport and is already taking action to convert it into lowcarbon infrastructure. However, given the scale of the transformations needed, all players involved both public and private must take action. With this in mind, VINCI Autoroutes joined the Alliance pour la Décarbonation de la Route (Alliance for Road Decarbonisation) when it launched in December 2023. This alliance brings together a range of actors academics, experts, regional authorities, non-profits, transport operators and infrastructure management companies, car manufacturers, shipping carriers, engineering groups, insurers and startups. Its aim is to partner with public authorities to design and implement effective solutions in terms of both technology and in practices, in order to contribute to a socially and economically viable pathway towards the decarbonisation of road transport.
2023 marked an important milestone in the rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure on the VINCI Autoroutes network. At the end of the year, all service areas across its network had been fitted with charging stations for electric vehicles, with 85% of all 1,621 points taking about thirty minutes to fully charge. While this network already makes long-distance electric mobility easier by providing users with satisfactory access to charging infrastructure, it is only designed to meet current needs. The share of electric vehicles representing 3% of all vehicles (source: Avere) – is expected to grow exponentially to reach 25% in 2030 and 45% in 2035. The number of accessible charge points will have to increase sevenfold. In other words, the service areas in VINCI Autoroutes’ network would have to be equipped with between 60 and 70 terminals on average. On the busiest routes, an estimated 180 charge points would be required to meet demand when traffic is heavy.
With respect to heavy vehicles, which account for 15% of motorway traffic and 45% of the CO2 emissions it produces, VINCI Autoroutes, TotalEnergies, Enedis and six European car manufacturers launched a joint study on the charging infrastructure necessary for large-scale electrification of long-distance freight transport in France. Initial results indicate that demand for charging while in transit on the main French road routes could reach around 3.5 TWh per year by 2035. For a number of electric heavy vehicles, which will represent 30% of the fleet by that time, with 12.5% travelling long distances, more than 12,000 special charge points will have to be installed (10,000 for long breaks and 2,200 for short breaks).
In the longer term, dynamic on-road charging of heavy vehicles could considerably reduce the size of their batteries, in turn reducing constraints related to range, which is still limited at this time. This is the subject of an unprecedented experiment launched in 2023 as part of a BPI France call for projects awarded to a consortium led by VINCI Autoroutes (see Close-up, page 49).
While promoting e-mobility practices, motorway infrastructure can also play a part in producing the renewable energy required to make it massively avail-able, by deploying solar farms on unused land and on car parks in the form of solar canopies. VINCI Autoroutes identified about 1,000 hectares across its network that could eventually be used as sites for 200 solar power plants, with a target capacity of 1 GW by 2030. These projects will be rolled out in association with various solar power plant operators. In 2023, VINCI Autoroutes launched the initial calls for tenders dedicated to rolling out solar canopies on carpool parking facilities, in service areas and at heavy vehicle parking areas. It is relying in particular on its subsidiary Solarvia, which had 46 solar farms in development at the end of 2023, for a total capa city of 287 MWp. The first works will begin in 2024.
46 solar farms, for total installed capacity of 287 MWp, are being developed by VINCI Autoroutes subsidiary Solarvia.
According to the fifth edition of the VINCI Autoroutes survey on solo driving, which measures the occupation rate of vehicles on motorways around 10 major French cities, 8.4 drivers out of 10 were solo on their commute to work in 2023 (compared with 8.5 in 2022), for an average vehicle occupancy rate of 1.24 (stable compared to 2022). To meet the SNBC’s target for 2030 – i.e. an average of 1.75 occupants per vehicle – the number of carpoolers will need to increase significantly.
VINCI Autoroutes has contributed to developing this mode of shared mobility over the past 15 years or so by adding carpool parking facilities at entrances and exits to its network. At the end of 2023, 52 of these car parks were in service, totalling nearly 4,500 free spaces. As part of the motorway investment plan, 28 additional facilities will be created in the coming years in partnership with regional authorities. Such collaborations also promote the development of multimodal hubs connected to public transport, as planned by the low-carbon motorways agreements signed by VINCI Autoroutes in recent years with a number of regional authorities, metropolitan areas and cities.
