New buildings obliged to install e-car charging infrastructure

Germany’s parliament (Bundestag) has passed a law stipulating the installation of e-car charging infrastructure in every new or refurbished building with a certain number of parking spaces, in a bid to expand the charging infrastructure during the scale-up of electric mobility. Every parking lot of a new or refurbished residential building with more than five parking spaces must be equipped with technology  to enable the installation of charging boxes. In the case of new non-residential buildings, there must be one actual charging point for every six parking spaces, and every third space must be equipped with the new technology. Existing non-residential buildings must have a charging point as of 2025 if they have more than 20 parking spaces. Exceptions are provided for buildings owned and used by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The so-called neighbourhood approach in the law allows for developers and building owners in the same neighbourhood to construct the required e-car infrastructure together. “The expansion of the private charging infrastructure in particular is a decisive factor for the long-term ramp-up of electromobility, because over 85 percent of charging processes take place in the private sector,” said Kerstin Andreae, head of the German association of energy and water industries (BDEW). However, legislators missed an opportunity for even larger growth in charging points by omitting detached and semi-detached houses, which make up over 80 percent of newly built residential homes, the BDEW said.

The roll-out of electric vehicles is slowly picking up in Germany, but a lack of charging infrastructure is one of the main reasons why consumers are holding back on switching to e-cars. This week the government also announced a new tender for 1,000 new fast-charging points across the nation.