The past 12 months, Germany has increased the number of charging possibilities for electric cars by more than a quarter. According to the Federal Association of Energy and Water (BDEW), there are now about 13,500 public and semi-public charging points at 6,700 charging stations throughout the country. In the summer of 2017, there were 10,700 charging points. The website ladesaeulenregister.de shows all charging facilities and is updated daily. BDEW promises drivers of e-cars an interactive map of Germany, which displays charging points in the vicinity with all relevant information for an uncomplicated charging process. The Federal Government has set a target of at least 100,000 charging points for electric vehicles by 2020, of which at least one third should be fast charging stations (DC). That was taking into account an estimated 1 million EVs and PHEVs driving around on German roads by then, Auto, Motor & Sport reports. The actual number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars falls well short of expectations. So far, the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt has registered about 71,100 pure electric cars and about 61,100 plug-in hybrids. Combined, that number needs to increase more than sevenfold over the next two years to hit the 1-million target. One of the measures the German federal government envisages is halving the benefit in kind employees have to pay for the private use of their company car. Another element that should boost e-sales is the fact that over the next two years, many OEMs will launch electric and plug-in hybrid models, expanding the offer considerably.
The number of charging points for electric cars in Germany has risen by a quarter in the past year. Across the country, drivers of electric cars can now access around 13,500 public and semi-public charging points at 6,700 charging stations, up from 10,700 in 2017. In addition, there are more than 1,000 fast chargers that offer fast-charge speeds as high as 100 kW, which is enough to fully recharge an EV battery within 30 minutes.