On average, public charging points in Germany are only lightly utilized. According to an analysis by the National Centre for Charging Infrastructure, subsidised, publicly accessible charging points were occupied for an average of 2.3 hours a day between July 2023 and June 2024. This corresponds to a time utilization of around 9.6 percent. Compared to previous years, occupancy has thus decreased slightly, also because the infrastructure has grown faster than the vehicle fleet.
There are significant differences in usage between the types of charging: Normal charging points with up to 22 kilowatts had the highest utilisation, followed by fast charging stations with particularly high power (HPC). Charging points in the mid-range between 22 and 149 kilowatts were used least frequently. The latter, however, are increasingly disappearing from the stock and are being replaced by more attractive, faster columns.
In detail, the study shows striking usage patterns. At night between midnight and 5 a.m., the occupancy rate is lowest, in the morning it rises significantly and reaches its peak at noon. Towards evening, occupancy decreases again. The peak value in the observation period was recorded on a Friday during Advent (8 December 2023), when just under one in five charging points was occupied at the same time.
Regional and seasonal differences also play a role. In rural and urban areas, the daily routines are largely the same, in metropolises the occupancy rate also rises again in the evening hours around 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. In tourist-oriented regions such as Ostholstein, occupancy increases significantly on weekends and during the holidays, this was particularly evident on the Easter weekend of 2024.
Full story Charging infrastructure in Germany: Actually always something free
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