Germany's fast-charging infrastructure growing quicker than demand from e-cars

The construction of fast-charging infrastructure for e-cars in Germany is gaining speed, energy industry association BDEW has said. The rate of installations of new public charging points with a capacity of 150 kilowatts or more doubled to over 400 since September, with locations including major cities such as Berlin and small towns and villages in rural Thuringia and Bavaria, the BDEW said. Around 78,000 fully electric cars could be charged per year using the points added since September. This value is derived from an assumed average car driving just under 15,000 kilometres per year, needing 20 kilowatt hours of electricity per 100 kilometres and using public charging for 15 percent of its total power intake. Charging points are assumed to have three full-load hours per day. The total number of fast charging points in the country grew to nearly 2,150, capable of charging about 1.3 million fully electric cars per year, while only 500,000 pure e-cars are currently registered in Germany. “This shows that the utilisation of public charging infrastructure is still significantly below its capacity,” the association said. BDEW head Kerstin Andreae explained that fast technological progress in charging systems has allowed the output of charging points to triple in just three years. Around 500 different companies are currently operating in the charging point business, meaning “the market works,” Andreae said.

The new government’s goal of bringing 15 million fully electric cars on the road by 2030 is therefore “a strong signal” that is going to accelerate innovation. However, technological change will make it difficult to gauge the number of charging points needed by the end of the decade, she added. “It would be prudent to keep the infrastructure expansion targets flexible,” Andreae argued. The new German government has given out the target of reaching 15 million fully electric cars on Germany's roads by 2030.