VDA e-charging network ranking: Ingolstadt takes top position, has best ratio of e-cars to public charging points for e-cars in Germany

The gap between supply and demand in the public charging infrastructure for e-cars, which has been growing gradually from 2020 to 2022, has narrowed somewhat. However, there are still major differences in the communities and the need for action in expanding the charging infrastructure in Germany remains great. This is shown by the evaluation published today by the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the so-called VDA e-charging network ranking*.

As of July 1, 2023, there are 97,495 publicly accessible charging points in Germany, of which 18,577 are fast charging points** (source: Federal Network Agency). Thus on this day, there were an average of 21 e-cars per publicly accessible charging point in Germany. In the last VDA e-charging network ranking, as of January 1, 2023, there were still 23 e-cars on one public charging point. While the difference between demand and supply has grown over the years, the large gap has now narrowed somewhat. However, there is still a lot of catching up to do.

In order to achieve the goal of 1mn charging points in 2030, which the federal government has also expressly set out in its coalition agreement and recently in the National Industrial Strategy, the pace of expansion over the past twelve months would have to more than triple. In addition, around half (48%) of all 10,773 communities in Germany still do not have a single public charging point.

Charging performance plays an important role in charging time and utilization of charging points. Significantly more e-cars can be charged at fast charging points in the same time than at normal charging points. If the charging power available on average per e-car in Germany is considered to measure the expansion of the publicly accessible charging infrastructure, there is now a trend reversal: While this curve continuously decreased over the years since 2020 from 3.4kW to 1. 4kW on January 1st, 2023 (data status of the last VDA electric charging network ranking), the charging power available per e-car rises again to 1.7kW on August 1st of this year. The background to this development is that an increasing number of fast charging points with high charging capacity have been added over the course of the year so far. However, the VDA evaluation also shows that in 8 out of 10 municipalities in Germany there is still not a single fast charging point.

VDA President Hildegard Müller: "The expansion of the charging infrastructure is one of the most urgent infrastructure tasks for Germany, but has been shamefully neglected for a long time. One thing is clear: the success of e-mobility depends largely on the expansion of the charging infrastructure. People need certainty that they can easily charge anywhere 24/7 so that they can switch to e-mobility. Availability is the key criterion for customer satisfaction when it comes to charging. The fact that there is not a single charging point in every second municipality in Germany is sobering and highlights the need for political action."

An Allensbach study commissioned by the VDA recently showed: 68% of those surveyed looked critically upon the availability of charging options in their own area, 61% think this applies to the places where they shop, and 49% see deficits on motorways and country roads.

Especially against the background of these results, it is good that the pace of expansion of the charging infrastructure has recently increased and, in particular, the expansion of the fast-charging infrastructure has been accelerated, said Müller. "It absolutely has to continue like this, because Germany has a lot of catching up to do."

Müller continued: "The power grid plays a key role in the success of e-mobility, but here too there is a lot of catching up to do. The grid is currently not equipped to meet the challenges that come with the energy transition and the market ramp-up of e-mobility. It now urgently needs to be expanded more quickly. In addition, this must be carried out in a forward-looking manner, i.e. based on future needs. As agreed in the coalition committee, this forward-looking expansion must now be anchored in law and implemented quickly."

The VDA President also advises a consistent monitoring of the charging infrastructure expansion by the federal government. The interministerial working group on the topic of charging infrastructure must insist on the implementation of the measures and compliance with the deadlines set out in the Federal Government's Master Plan for Charging Infrastructure II. "Delays in the implementation of the measures could jeopardize the success of e-mobility in Germany. This shouldn’t happen."

Faster planning and approval processes would remain centrally important. "We need planning to be accelerated when expanding the charging infrastructure. As the automotive industry, we have made concrete proposals for this," said the VDA President.

"Companies in the automotive industry are already involved in many projects and are consistently advancing development and expansion of the charging infrastructure. We will continue this commitment to enable the successful ramp-up of e-mobility,"  the VDA President added.

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 here 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 frontrunner here with Ingolstadt (Bavaria). In Ingolstadt there are only 4.2 e-cars per public charging point. In the last VDA e-charging network ranking, Emden took first place, but now the Lower Saxony city finds itself in second place with 5.3 e-cars per public charging point. New on the podium: Salzgitter. The Lower Saxony city was able to move up 10 places compared to the last ranking and is now in 3rd place. While there were recently 10.1 e-cars at a public charging point, there are now only 5.8 e-cars.

Saxony has best ratio of e-cars to public charging points for e-cars

A look at the federal states shows: In Saxony there are 13.9 e-cars per public charging point. This means that Saxony once again has the best ratio of charging points to e-cars and can therefore defend its top position among the federal states. As in the last VDA e-charging network ranking, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia follow in 2nd and 3rd place. Then: Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Bavaria. Berlin made the biggest leap forward among the federal states, moving up 4 places to 8th place. Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, Lower Saxony and Hamburg follow. The states mentioned have a better T-value than the national average (21.1). Behind: North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Saarland.
Saarland was able to improve its ratio of charging points to e-cars, but is still in last place. There are 30.0 e-cars per public charging point here, more than twice as many as in Saxony. Of course, there are also structural differences in the federal states, e.g. the number of e-cars in the new federal states is still comparatively small.

The A value represents the basic attractiveness of the charging network in the district or city. For this purpose, the number of publicly accessible charging points is set in relation to all cars registered in the district or city, regardless of their type of drive. The value shows how attractive the district or city is for switching to electromobility. Ingolstadt (Bavaria) is also ahead in the A-value ranking. The city of Regensburg (Bavaria) has moved up one place compared to the last evaluation and is now in 2nd place. Emden (Lower Saxony) is in 3rd place.

Thuringia at the top of fast charging

The S value shows how many e-cars statistically have to share a fast charging point. Because of the still comparatively weak distribution, a statistical evaluation at the federal state level makes sense. This evaluation shows: The national average for the S value is 110.8. In other words: In Germany, on average, there are around 111 e-cars per fast charging point. This value has improved significantly since the last VDA e-charging network ranking: as of January 1, 2023, it was still at 141.7.

As in the last evaluation, the first 3 places in the S value are occupied by Thuringia (48.2), Saxony-Anhalt (50.0), and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (51.0). The following are: Saxony, Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony and Bavaria. The latter saw the most additions, with 1,176 fast charging points compared to the last evaluation. Hamburg, which was able to improve by 2 places, is in 10th place. Behind them: Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen, Hesse and Saarland, where statistically there are 189.8 e-cars per public fast charging point.

As of the deadline for the new VDA e-charging network ranking (July 1, 2023), the Federal Network Agency reported 16,954 more public charging points than on January 1. The expansion of charging points was particularly dynamic in the leader Ingolstadt, where 859 public charging points were added. In the city of Berlin there were 630 and in Hamburg 333.

Enclosed you will find (in German): Data sheets for the respective federal states with the leaders among those 13 federal states which are no city-states as well as rankings of the federal states among themselves for all 3 values (T, A, and S).

1. Ranking of the federal states by T-value, A-value and S-value
2. 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 July 1, 2023 and from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on the number of cars and e-cars for the same date. No newer data on the car population is available. Although the Federal Network Agency provides more recent data for public charging points in Germany (101,421 charging points, of which 19,859 fast charging points as of August 1, 2023), for reasons of statistical comparability the same reference date of July 1, 2023 has to be used.

**According to the definition of the Federal Network Agency, a fast charging point offers a charging possibility of more than 22kW. Citizens in Germany are fundamentally interested in making their own contribution towards climate-neutral mobility. However, the individual options available vary greatly between citizens in urban and rural areas. These are the central results of a study by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy. Questions were asked about mobility behavior, mobility preferences and the population's attitude towards sustainable mobility offers and technologies. The representative survey was carried out on behalf of the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).