New VDA Charging Network Ranking – Now with Rapid Charging Options

Germany still has a lot of catching up to do when expanding the publicly accessible charging infrastructure for e-vehicles. The updated VDA Charging Network Ranking reveals that network expansion is still very sluggish in many regions while other cities and municipalities are catching up. Whereas about 55,000 electric passenger cars are newly registered each month in Germany, the number of public charging points is growing by only about 250 per week. Calculations show we need to install about 2,000 new charging points per week and thus to speed up the pace of network expansion roughly eight-fold. As of Oct. 1, there was one public charging point for every 21 electric passenger cars.

In Germany there are currently 48,717 public charging points (Source: Federal Network Agency, last updated: 1 Oct. 2021) including 7,053 rapid charging points. Hildegard Müller, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), said: "The ambitious goal of the new Germany government – up to 15 million e-vehicles by 2030 – is stepping up the pressure to expand the charging infrastructure. The public charging points are especially important in this context. To reach this goal, the government must take decisive action to expand the charging infrastructure."

"The new VDA Charging Network Ranking shows that things are moving but not fast enough," she continued. "The energy providers, as well as the mayors of cities and chief administrative officers of rural districts, must do a better job of coordinating expansion efforts locally since they have the best knowledge of local requirements. New charging options are also needed in the private sector at places of work, in the retail sector, and at gas stations and parking garages. We need a quicker pace everywhere!"

Müller added: "A highly efficient charging infrastructure covering a wide area is the most important prerequisites for more people to make the switch to e-mobility. They have to know that they will be able to charge their e-cars at all times and places."

The VDA Charging Network Ranking is based on official data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority and the Federal Network Agency. These registration data are used in the following analysis, which is divided into three parts:

The T_score shows how many e-autos have to share a public charging point. Salzgitter was able to defend its top spot here while the rural district of Saale-Orla moved up eight notches to 2nd place. The rural district of Uckermark in Brandenburg now occupies third place after moving up two notches.

A glance at the German states reveals the following T score ranking: Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. These five frontrunners are followed by Schleswig-Holstein in place 6 and Bremen in place 7. Lower Saxony (place 8) leads the second group followed by Bavaria, Brandenburg, Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Hesse.

The new German government wants to expand mainly the rapid charging network. With the recently introduced S value, the VDA Charging Network Ranking shows, for the first time, how many electric passenger cars currently have to share one rapid charging point. As defined by the Federal Charging Agency, electric power can be charged at a rapid charging point with a charging capacity of over 22 kilowatts. This is especially important when travelling long distances – or when charging must take place quickly, e.g. during shopping. Rapid charging points are thus of special importance for the acceptance of e-mobility. The Thuringian rural district Altenburger Land occupies first place in this ranking, following by the Salzland District in Saxony-Anhalt and the Saale-Orla rural district in Thuringia.

The A score is an indicator of the basic attractiveness of the charging network in a rural district or city. It shows the ratio of public charging points to the total number of cars reported in a rural district or city. In the A score ranking, the city of Wolfsburg has defended its top spot – followed by Ingolstadt (second) and Passau (third).

During the last three months, the expansion of charging points has been especially dynamic in the Ravensburg rural district, where 145 new charging points were reported, followed by Cologne with 117, and Ingolstadt with 95, new charging points. The rural district of Munich leads in expanding rapid charging infrastructure with 32 new charging points, followed by Berlin with 23 new points. The Main-Kinzig district in Hesse and the rural district of Regensburg each reported 16 new rapid charging points.

The ranking of the German states for all three scores and numerous graphics are available at:

VDA-Ladenetzranking_Bundesländer  [VDA Charging Point Ranking of the German States]

Explanations:

The VDA Charging Network Ranking is based on data from the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) on the number of charging points in rural districts and cities in Germany as of Oct. 1, 2021, and data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on the passenger-car and e-car fleet, also as of Oct. 1, 2021. More recent data on the size of the passenger-car fleet are not available

A total of 3,280 charging points without location data from the previous ranking can now be matched to the correct registration districts. For this reason, the changes in ranking are of only limited information value.

Contact:
Verband der Automobilindustrie e.V.
Eva Siegfried
Spokeswoman for the Economy, Statistics and VDA Charging-Network Rankings
Tel.: +49 (0)171 3675056
E-mail: eva.siegfried@vda.de