As EV adoption accelerates, the question is no longer whether we can build enough chargers—but whether today’s networks are designed to remain reliable, adaptable, and sustainable over their full lifecycle.
The fifth and final paper in Xynteo’s Future of Mobility series, Charging Infrastructure for Electrification of Road Transport, turns the spotlight on the often-overlooked final pillar—decommissioning and recommissioning.
This paper argues that the long-term value of EV charging infrastructure depends on much more than getting assets installed and operational on day one. It explores how end-of-life planning, modular design, interoperability, and circular economy principles can be embedded upfront to avoid stranded assets, reduce waste, and keep networks future-ready as technologies, usage patterns, and regulations evolve.
This paper is designed for public policymakers, investors, utilities, charge point operators, and solution providers seeking to move from short-term delivery to system-level resilience in EV charging. Building on earlier papers on analysis, planning, and installation & usage, we examine:
- Sets out a lifecycle-centric roadmap for EV charging infrastructure—linking deployment, operation, decommissioning, and recommissioning in one system view.
- Examines current gaps in standards, accountability, and design that hinder efficient upgrades, repurposing, and recycling of charging assets.
- Identifies “gold standard” requirements for future-proofed technology architectures, long-term decommissioning plans, seamless grid integration, and sustainable disposal.
- Highlights the roles of policymakers, investors, utilities, and e‑mobility solution providers in embedding lifecycle criteria and circularity into infrastructure strategies, tenders, and funding decisions
Without proactive lifecycle management, today’s charging points risk becoming tomorrow’s stranded, underutilised, or environmentally costly assets. With it, cities, CPOs, utilities, and investors can unlock charging networks that are not just built fast—but built to last, adapt, and be responsibly renewed.
Amy Marshall
Partner and Managing Director, Europe
Ashish Pandey
Principal
Amanda Derhy
Consultant
