BERLIN/BONN (dpa-AFX) - The number of public charging points for e-cars in Germany is growing rapidly. Within a year, it has risen by around 45,000, according to calculations by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). That is faster than a year ago. As of July 1, there were 17.3 purely battery-powered cars or plug-in hybrids per charging station. A year earlier, the association had calculated a figure of around 21.

However, it is difficult to determine the exact growth figures, as there are many late registrations in the Federal Network Agency's register of charging stations. If you compare a previous year's figure including thousands of late registrations with a current figure without such late registrations, this distorts the growth downwards. The VDA has therefore used old comparative figures without the late registrations that have taken place since then for its calculations in order to improve comparability.

More than 145,000 public charging points

According to the VDA, there were 142,793 publicly accessible charging points on July 1. According to the Federal Network Agency, there were as many as 145,857 on September 1 - including 31,063 fast chargers with a capacity of at least 22 kilowatts. These figures are expected to rise due to late registrations.

In purely mathematical terms, electric cars are best supplied with charging stations in Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia. According to the VDA, there are 11.8, 11.9 and 12.0 electric cars per charging point respectively. However, the states also owe their good results in this category to the fact that they are among the worst performers in Germany in terms of the proportion of electric cars. The worst ratios are found in Saarland with 24.3 electric cars per charging point and Rhineland-Palatinate with 21.7.

The VDA still sees a great need for action in the expansion of the charging infrastructure; this is a key factor in encouraging people to switch to e-mobility, says Association President Hildegard Müller./ruc/DP/zb