The smart charging stations deployment: a stepping stone to make smart city a reality?

Résumé En

Since 2014, and the first European directive on “alternative fuels”, open charging stations have acquired new functionality. While the first charging stations (2010-2014) were not connected to the ICT networks, the latest ones now provide real "connected mobility services" (charging bill, parking space reservation, electricity and power control…). The objective of this paper is to show the evolution of the services attached to the open charging stations: they can be considered today as anchor points of the smart city, because of the numerous digital services they provide. Moreover, in France, charging stations are progressively integrated in MaaS platforms. Thanks to a field survey conducted among 45 French electric mobility stakeholders, between 2017 and 2020 (during our PhD in urban planning), we document the digital transition that affects electromobility and transforms the uses, as well as the way of planning and managing individual decarbonized travels.