VDA Ranking: Krefeld is the Bottom in the Electric Charging Network

Now the VDA wants to use its Charging Network Ranking to motivate municipalities to take action. At the same time, the association aims to create transparency.

“District administrators and mayors must now be measured by these figures,” says Hildegard Müller at the presentation of the ranking.

The Charging Network Ranking presents two values that are crucial for the expansion of electromobility. The A-value denotes the attractiveness of the charging network in the district or city and represents the number of publicly accessible charging points relative to the cars registered in the district or city. The more charging points available, the more attractive the region is for the switch to electric cars. Currently, the average value is 1,486.

“Currently, there are approximately 1,500 vehicles per public E-charging point on average. This ratio needs to be reduced to make the region more attractive for the switch to electromobility,” Müller demands.

The T-value indicates how many electric cars have to share a public charging point. Hildegard Müller:

“We need a balanced ratio of public and private charging options. Both must now be extensively expanded.”

According to Müller, municipalities should now increase the offer within their area of responsibility and present a plan on how they intend to quickly and proactively expand the charging infrastructure. According to an EU directive, an average of no more than ten electric cars should have to share a single charging point.

“Queuing at E-charging stations does not motivate citizens to switch,” emphasizes the VDA president.

According to the VDA, there are currently 32,110 public charging points in Germany. The association references data from the Federal Network Agency as of early November. Private charging points, it continues, are not yet centrally recorded. Müller:

“The recording of private charging points at households must now be established. The figures can best be provided by the energy sector.”

Against this backdrop, the VDA’s Charging Network Ranking maps out the expansion of the public E-charging infrastructure of all districts and cities in Germany. Leading the rankings is the district of Regen. It tops both categories, the A-value for the attractiveness of the public charging infrastructure and the T-value for sharing a public charging point. In this Bavarian district, there are 310 registered passenger cars or 1.9 electric vehicles per public charging point.

In terms of attractiveness, in addition to Regen, Wolfsburg with 358 registered passenger cars per charging point and Passau with 403 cars per charging station are also leading. In Landau in the Palatinate, there is still one charging point for every 418 cars and in Regensburg one for 434 vehicles. The laggards in attractiveness are the district of Celle with 9,947 registered passenger cars per electric pump, the district of Prignitz with 15,188 vehicles per charging point, and the city of Krefeld, where almost 24,000 cars share a single public charging station.

The number of electric vehicles sharing a publicly accessible charging station also varies significantly across German municipalities. The VDA maps this with the T-value. After the leader Regen, the district of Freyung-Grafenau follows with a factor of 2.8, the city of Salzgitter with 3 electric cars per charging point, the Kyffhäuser district with 3.2, and Uckermark with a factor of 3.3. At the bottom of the list are Kassel—where 68 EVs share one charging point—, Weimar with 69, Wuppertal with 78, Stuttgart with 88, and Krefeld even with 199. Thus, the city in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the absolute laggard in both rankings.