New leader in VDA charging network ranking

The expansion of the publicly accessible charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is still much too slow in Germany. The VDA’s latest update to its charging network ranking reveals that expansion is progressing very slowly in some regions, while other areas are catching up. At present, an average of 17 e-cars have to share one public charging point in Germany. The European Union recommends a maximum of 10.

Hildegard Müller, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), commented: “The expansion of the charging infrastructure on public roads is picking up speed. Yet whereas nearly 60,000 electric passenger cars per month are being registered in Germany, the number of public charging points is adding only around 1,000 per month. That is not enough. We need about 2,000 new charging points per week, for customers to have a good publicly accessible supply for their e-cars. In addition, new charging options have to be created on private premises, at workplaces and on commercial premises. This had to proceed faster everywhere!”

The VDA’s charging network ranking is based on the official data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) and the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). Whatever has been reported here is fed into the evaluation that consists of two scores.

The “A” score ranks the attractiveness of the charging network in a particular district or municipality by relating the number of publicly accessible charging points to the number of cars registered in the respective area. In the A ranking, the city of Wolfsburg has taken over the lead from the district of Regen. Second place goes to Passau, with Regensburg following in third place. The star among the top 10 was the town of Zweibrücken that managed to climb 113 places and is now eighth in the ranking.

The largest leap in the attractiveness league was made by the city of Stuttgart, which skyrocketed up 301 places to number 51. Great improvements were also recorded for Mannheim, which climbed 188 places to reach 125th, and the district of Ammerland, which improved by 167 places and is now in 176th place.

There have also been major changes in the “T” score. This indicates how many e-cars have to share one public charging point. Salzgitter now heads the table, having climbed up two notches. Second place is still occupied by the district of Freyung-Grafenau; and third goes to the town of Emden that has moved up four places. The previous leader, the district of Regen, now comes in fourth place.

The greatest improvement in the T score was achieved by the town of Speyer, moving up 160 places to come 35th. The district of Barnim also showed a positive result, rising 139 places to reach 162nd. Third place among the top improvers is shared by the district of Sonneberg (up 124 places to 111th), and Hamburg (up 124 places to number 139).

Germany currently has 41,751 publicly accessible charging points (source: Federal Network Agency, as at April 1, 2021). Private charging stations have so far not been recorded in the central statistics. Hildegard Müller therefore demands: “Alongside the public charging points we now also urgently need a central register of private charging points, for those at workplaces and those on commercial premises. That is the only way we can maintain a complete picture of the charging infrastructure in Germany and expansion can be taken forward in a targeted manner. We still need better coordination and connectivity between the various charging options, and in my view this remains an important task for all local authorities in Germany.”

The current ranking of the charging infrastructure in all districts and municipalities is available online, at: Ladenetz-Ranking - VDA.

About the ranking:

The VDA’s charging network ranking is based on data from the Federal Network Agency about the number of charging points in German districts and municipalities as of April 1, 2021, and from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on the fleet of conventional and electric passenger cars as of January 1, 2021. More recent data about the passenger car fleet is not available. The Agency’s register of charging points includes 3,280 without information about their location. These points were not taken into consideration in the rankings, because they cannot be attributed to a region.

If one extrapolates the figures for Germany’s e-car fleet to April 1, 2021, the result is an average T value of 17 e-cars having to share one charging point. This means that the VDA has produced an estimate based on the new registrations of e-cars in the first quarter of 2021 reported by the KBA.