Knesset Report Highlights Major Infrastructure and Pricing Barriers for Israeli EV Owners

A new research paper published by the Knesset Information and Research Center highlights significant barriers currently facing electric vehicle owners in Israel, including occupied charging stations, slow chargers, and underutilized subsidy budgets.

Charging Infrastructure Challenges

The study notes that EV owners can charge their vehicles either at home using domestic electricity rates or via public infrastructure. Public stations are divided into regular AC chargers, which take several hours, and fast DC chargers, which require between 15 minutes and an hour. Electric vehicles reached a market share of over 20% of total car sales roughly three years ago before experiencing a subsequent decline. Analysts point out that owning an EV is most cost-effective for those with private home parking where a domestic charger can be installed. Consequently, buyers with private parking often opt for higher-end models, creating a market barrier for consumers who must rely on the more expensive and sometimes unreliable public charging network.

Pricing and International Comparison

According to the report, authored by economist Noam Botush, there were 25 active charging providers in Israel as of April 2025, with the top three controlling 59% of all charging sockets. Central Bureau of Statistics data cited in the research shows that 88% of EV owners use home charging, while 30% occasionally use fast public stations and 13.5% use slow public chargers. Furthermore, 64.5% of users reported a shortage of fast charging stations, and 28.4% noted a general lack of infrastructure.

The average cost of electricity for home consumption stood at approximately 0.64 shekels per kilowatt-hour last year, whereas public charging prices varied significantly depending on the provider, location, and time of day, ranging from 1.03 shekels to over 2.60 shekels per kilowatt-hour.

While the Ministry of Energy allocated 94 million shekels to incentivize the deployment of charging infrastructure, only 69% of the approved funds were ultimately utilized. Unlike countries such as Austria and Ireland, which offer direct subsidies for home charging installations, Israel currently provides no financial support for domestic charging units.