The number of electric vehicle charging points in Germany rose by 35% last year, exceeding the rate of increase needed to keep up with the rollout of battery EVs in the country, the BDEW energy industry association said on Tuesday.

The German government last October approved a plan to spend 6.3 billion euros ($6.9 billion) over three years to rapidly scale up the number of charging stations as part of its push towards net zero emissions from transport.

BDEW, which represents utility companies, said its calculations found the increase in installed charging infrastructure, provided by both the public sector and private companies, exceeded by 20% that needed to keep in step with the increase in EVs so far.

Of the new total of 80,541, the number of ultra-fast points (HPC) with over 150 Kilowatt performance, that can provide power for a 100 kilometre (62 miles) driving range within minutes, rose by 83% year-on-year to 7,037 points, it said.

Meanwhile, the number of fast charging points using direct current (DC) electricity of between 22 and 149 kW increased by 15% to 6,216 units.

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The number in the third category – 11-to-22 kW normal charging points running on alternating current (AC) for private and semi-public usage – rose by 34% to 67,288 units, the data showed.

The companies as of end-2022 provided 2.47 gigawatts (GW) of installed power capacity for electric cars compared to 1.74 GW a year earlier.

Government data last October showed 1.5 million purely electric cars were in use, a tenth of the government’s target for 2030.

Kerstin Andreae, managing director of the BDEW, told a news conference the organisation calculated the current rate of growth would deliver only 8 million vehicles compared with the government’s 2030 target of 15 million.

Measures that could help to achieve the goal, she said, included more bonuses for EV buyers, encouraging employers to offer workplace charging and the speeding up of necessary permissions.

Source: Reuters