© Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; data from Survey on electric mobility conducted by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries

The number of charging stations is rising

If you’re looking for a charging station because your e-vehicle’s battery is running low, you might be surprised to find out that the next one may in fact be located just around the corner. As of the end of 2015, some 5,836 recharging points for electric vehicles were available in Germany – that’s 300 more than in the previous year.

Across Germany, the number of charging stations for electric vehicles is rising. According to data gathered by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries, some 2,567 charging stations were up and running as of the end of 2015. These included a total of 5,836 charging sockets, also known as recharging points. This is a considerable rise on the 5,500 recharging points that were available the previous year.

Berlin, Stuttgart and Hamburg leading the way

There are more than 900 German cities and communities that offer at least one public recharging point. With a total of 433, Berlin has the highest number of recharging points, followed by Stuttgart and Hamburg which have 370 and 203 recharging points respectively. Recharging your electric vehicle is particularly easy in North Rhine-Westphalia as the state has the highest number of public recharging points (1,255 spread across the state). After this come Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria with 1,097 and 794 charging sockets respectively.

However, what many people still don’t know is that the way in which you charge your electric vehicle depends on the individual recharging point. There are different types of plugs, some recharging points can only be accessed with a special customer card, and the billing procedures used can be quite complicated. This can make recharging your electric vehicle a bit of a challenge. However, this will go on to change.

Towards using a standard charging plug

A new ordinance which entered into force on 17 March 2016 stipulates that all new charging stations in Germany must be equipped with the standard European charging plug.

Germany is the first European Member State to transpose the European directive on this subject in national law. The goal is to ensure that all vehicles complying with the European standard for connectors can be recharged at any recharging point throughout the EU.