65 million

... this is the number of charging stations needed in Europe by 2030 to achieve the European Commission's target under the "Fit for 55" package: 55% less CO2 in the passenger transport sector.  [1]

280 billion will be needed to expand this charging infrastructure by 2030 in order to increase the number of charging stations, improve the power grid and promote renewable energy generation capacities. Of this, around 8 billion euros per year will be spent on expanding the public charging infrastructure. [1]

Charging infrastructure: Current situation

Looking at the current situation shows that some efforts are still needed to achieve the European Commission's target. 

According to a calculation, measured over the period from 2021 to 2030, 242 charging points per week would have to be installed in Germany to achieve the target. In France, there would be 404 charging points per week, and across all 27 EU member states, 1,616 charging points. [1]

The infrastructure in the countries of Europe varies greatly. In the third quarter of 2022, a total of 163,914 charging stations will be in operation across the EU, providing a total of 573,955 charging points. [2]

An impression of the situations in various countries in Europe is illustrated in the chart below.  [2]

However, the quality of a country's charging infrastructure should be determined on the basis of the number of charging stations, taking into account aspects such as the size, number of inhabitants and geographical characteristics of a country. For example, the low number of charging stations in Norway compared to France will be put into perspective simply because of the country's surface area.  

Vehicles per charging point: the A-value

Another important indicator for the charging infrastructure is the so-called A-value. This puts the number of publicly accessible charging points in a country in relation to the number of all registered vehicles (all drive types). The value thus tells us how many cars, statistically speaking, would have to charge at one and the same charging point. The lower the value, the more attractive it is to switch from a combustion engine to an electrically powered vehicle. The following graphic illustrates the A value in some European countries (as of 2020). [3]

The situation in Germany

In Germany, according to Federal Network Agency (from 07/22) a total of 34,319 public charging facilities, resulting in 64,808 publicly accessible charging points. 

Of these, 54,791 are normal charging points and 10,017 are fast charging points.

In a comparison of the German states, Bavaria leads (12,882 charging points), followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (11,504 charging points) and Baden-Württemberg (11,368 charging points). 

How are the statistics compiled?

Overall, it must be said with regard to all charging infrastructure statistics that a fully comprehensive survey is very difficult. The evaluation of publicly accessible charging stations in Germany, for example, is based on the charging stations registered in accordance with the Charging Station Ordinance. However, only those charging stations whose operators have agreed to publish their location on the Internet are included in these statistics.

Another starting point for collecting data are platforms that want to make charging networks as simple as possible for the end user. These integrate the locations of charging stations in a network independently of the operator or manufacturer. The evaluation of these networks provides another basis for statistics. 

In any case, it can be assumed that the data collection is not fully comprehensive, but still gives a good indication of the situation of the charging infrastructure.