Iberdrola, Spain’s largest operator of electric vehicle charging points, is expanding despite ongoing financial losses. Jorge Muñoz, head of Smart Mobility at Iberdrola, told EL ESPAÑOL-Invertia that the company expects its charging division to become profitable before the end of the decade, while most players in the sector remain unprofitable.
Muñoz said the basic obstacle is the scale of investment needed to build Spain’s charging infrastructure. “We’re still in the phase of recouping those investments,” he said, noting that electric vehicle adoption has been slower than initially forecast. But Muñoz says usage has accelerated over the past year, a trend he believes will eventually bring sustainable returns. “The entire sector is waiting for utilization rates to rise enough to hit profitability targets,” he said.
Charging Together, the joint venture between Iberdrola and bp pulse launched at the end of 2023, has yet to break even. The company posted losses of €12.8 million in 2024, which grew by 27.6% to €16.3 million in 2025. The losses are directly tied to rapid network expansion: total assets grew 14% year on year in 2025, reaching €273.9 million, as the company added new installations and developed its network.
Iberdrola operates 11,800 charging points across Spain, about 20% of the national total. Roughly 3,500 are high-power chargers; the rest are AC points, mainly in cities and at destinations, often in partnership with other companies. Despite rising costs, Muñoz said Iberdrola has kept charging prices unchanged since 2024, regardless of sector fluctuations. He said prices could become more competitive as the market matures.
Battery-powered vehicles are gaining ground, while hydrogen fuel cell technology remains at a much earlier stage, especially for industrial transport. Muñoz said hydrogen’s cost per kilometer is three to five times higher than that of battery-electric vehicles, mainly because of inefficiencies and limited refueling infrastructure. “For light transport, hydrogen will have no real role. In heavy transport, there may be some niche uses, but we don’t see it becoming widespread,” he said. Batteries, he added, are likely to dominate both light and heavy vehicle segments.
Spain’s charging infrastructure faces challenges seen elsewhere, too. Other companies have had to adapt to the realities of electric mobility. Carrefour, for example, restricted electric vehicles from upper parking levels in some stores over safety concerns, highlighting the tension between new technology and existing infrastructure. Read more about Carrefour’s EV parking restrictions.
As the Spanish market evolves, Iberdrola’s strategy reflects the risks and long-term potential of electric mobility. Data from elespanol motor suggests the company’s expansion and stable pricing could position it as a basic player once the sector reaches critical mass. For now, profitability depends on how quickly Spanish drivers adopt electric vehicles and how efficiently operators can expand their networks.
