Germany still has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to expanding the publicly accessible charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. The gap between the charging infrastructure and the number of e-cars has continued to grow. This is shown by the update of the VDA e-charging network ranking published today. There are 60,364 publicly accessible charging points in Germany (source: Bundesnetzagentur, as of 1 May 2022). This means that an average of around 22 e-cars come to a publicly accessible charging point in Germany. In the last VDA charging network ranking, as of 1 October 2021, there were 21 e-cars and on 1 May 2021 there were 17 e-cars – the gap between supply and demand is therefore growing.
While an average of around 57,000 electric cars (e-cars) per month were newly registered in Germany over the past twelve months, the number of publicly accessible charging points grew by only around 330 per week. In order to reach the target of 1 million charging points in 2030, However, to achieve this, which the federal government expressly stated in its coalition agreement, around 2,000 new charging points per week would be necessary. The expansion speed would therefore have to be increased sixfold. If the current pace of expansion is not increased, there will be just around 210,000 charging points in Germany in 2030, i.e. only a fifth of the targeted 1 million.
As of 1 May 2022, more than half of all 10,796 municipalities in Germany do not have a single public charging point.
Hildegard Müller, President of the Association of the Automotive Industry: “The federal government’s goal of 15 million electric vehicles by 2030 has further increased the need for an ambitious expansion of the charging infrastructure. Nevertheless, the expansion is progressing far too slowly. The expansion of the power grids required for electromobility must also be better coordinated. We need a lot more speed if we want to achieve the goals.” She demands: “Instead of lagging behind, the expansion must precede the need by two years. This is the only way to create the much-needed consumer confidence in a reliable and sufficient charging infrastructure. And we need consistent monitoring of the goal of 1 million charging points by the federal government, because only then can we make adjustments in good time if necessary.”
In order to increase the speed of expansion, faster planning and approval processes are necessary, according to the VDA President. “When it comes to expanding the charging infrastructure for e-vehicles, we need planning to be accelerated, and the automotive industry has submitted concrete proposals for this.”
In addition, the municipalities would have to assume their responsibility for the expansion of the charging infrastructure more than before. Müller says: “The municipalities know the specific local needs best. The mayors and district administrators must define goals for the development and promote implementation.”
The results of the VDA e-charging network ranking
The VDA e-charging network ranking is a statistical evaluation based on official data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority and the Federal Network Agency*. What is reported there is included in the evaluation, which is divided into three areas:
The T value indicates how many e-cars have to share a publicly accessible charging point. There is a new front runner here with the district of Groß-Gerau (Hesse). There are only 4.8 e-cars per charging point. Salzgitter, former leader, finds itself in 6th place. Emden is in second place (previously 26th), with the city of Heilbronn in third place (previously 11th). A look at the federal states results in the following order for the T-value: Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hamburg. Schleswig-Holstein is in sixth place, followed by Berlin and Lower Saxony. Bayern leads the second half in 9th place. Behind: Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland. The differences between the federal states are large, but of course there are also structural differences in the federal states: In the leading Saxony, 13.8 e-cars share a charging point, in Saarland 28.1 e-cars.
The A value represents the basic attractiveness of the charging network in the district or in the city. For this purpose, the number of publicly accessible charging points is set in relation to all cars registered in the district or in the city. In the A-value ranking, the city of Wolfsburg was once again able to defend its top spot. The Groß-Gerau district follows in second place. Ingolstadt is in third place.
The S value shows how many e-cars statistically have to share a rapid charging point. Rapid charging points are particularly important for longer distances or when the charging break should be as short as possible, for example when traveling or shopping. A statistical evaluation at the level of the federal states makes sense for the rapid-charging infrastructure. The national average for the S value is 146.1. Or to put it another way: In Germany, an average of 146.1 e-cars share a rapid charging point.
Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania occupy the first four places exclusively in eastern Germany. Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen are five other federal states that have a better ratio of rapid charging points and e-cars than the national average. In contrast, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg, Berlin, Saarland, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse have more e-cars per rapid charging point than the national average. It turns out that the differences between the federal states are also large when it comes to the rapid-charging infrastructure. In Thuringia, 57.5 e-cars share a rapid charging point, in Hesse it’s 209.1 e-cars.
The expansion of charging points has been particularly dynamic since the last VDA e-charging network ranking (as of 1 October 2021) in the T-value leader in the district of Groß-Gerau, which added 736 charging points, in the city of Berlin, where 455 new charging points were added, and in the district of Region Hanover. 279 new charging points were added there.
Online you will find data sheets for the respective federal states with the frontrunners of all 13 non-city states as well as rankings of the federal states among themselves for all three values with further data details:
- Ranking of the federal states according to T-value, A-value and S-value
- The leaders of the respective federal states
*The VDA e-charging network ranking is based on data from the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) on the number of charging points in German districts and cities as of 1 April 2022 and the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on the number of cars and electric cars, also on the Reference date 1 April 2022. More recent data on the number of cars is not available.
SOURCE: VDA
