Germany’s rollout of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure has lost momentum, with the ratio of EVs to public charging points remaining unchanged at 17 vehicles per charger, according to new data from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).
The country added 29,357 new public charging points in the past year, significantly fewer than the 45,000 added during the previous 12 months. As of 1 July 2025, Germany had 172,150 publicly accessible charging points, including 40,777 fast-charging units, serving 2.88 million registered EVs.
Average charging power per vehicle rose marginally from 2.1 kW to 2.4 kW over the year, but has shown no improvement since January. While fast-charging capacity expanded by 36% annually, standard charging points increased by only 17%.
Despite overall progress, accessibility remains uneven. Nearly one-third of municipalities with populations above 500 still lack a single public charger, and two-thirds have no fast-charging stations. Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg recorded the most favorable ratio at 4.8 EVs per charger, followed by Emden and the Oder-Spree district.
VDA President Hildegard Müller warned that the slowdown could undermine public trust in electric mobility. “Consumer confidence in being able to charge quickly and easily anytime and anywhere is central to the acceptance of electromobility,” she said. “It’s no good news that after the progress achieved, the pace of expansion has recently slowed down.”
Müller urged policymakers to accelerate grid upgrades and streamline approval procedures to speed up infrastructure deployment. She also noted that German automakers now offer about 110 electric models domestically and continue investing in European charging networks such as Ionity and Milence.
At the state level, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Thuringia achieved the best availability, with an average of 11.7 EVs per public charger. The national average for fast-charging improved slightly to 71 vehicles per charger, down from 82.4 a year earlier, highlighting modest but uneven progress in Germany’s EV infrastructure expansion.
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