Fast Charging in Europe: Where Are We Now and Where Are We Headed?

In 2024, it's expected that 17 million electric cars will be sold worldwide. That's over 20% of all new cars. Wow! We are as excited as many other e-mobility enthusiasts but also curious… Are there enough places to charge quickly?
We have analysed the most recent data and got an answer for you.

There are two types of fast chargers:

• standard DC chargers - up to 100 kW 

• high-power chargers (HPC) - between 100 and 350 kW

In both cases, charging occurs with direct current, which goes straight into the car battery. In this blog post, we’ll explore the development of fast charging across Europe. By “fast,” we’re referring to DC charging stations with power outputs ranging from 50 to 350 kW.
Public DC chargers are more common than HPC ones, as they are cheaper to install and easier on the power grid. You can find them in various locations, such as shopping centres, parking lots, and urban areas. HPC chargers, on the other hand, are mainly found along highways for quick charging on long trips.
Let’s look at how much faster charging can be with a 120 kW station compared to 50 kW, using the Audi e-tron 50 with a 71 kWh battery as an example.
Charging times from 20% to 80%:

• 50 kW charger: Charging takes around 60 minutes

• 120 kW charger: Charging takes around 30 minutes

As of late 2023, the EU had around 632,423 public charging points. Approximately 13.5% of these are DC fast chargers providing over 22 kW.
Fast chargers grew by 96% from 2022 to 2023, yet the distribution varies widely, with countries like Norway and the Netherlands showing higher concentrations. Despite rapid expansion, there are ongoing concerns about fast charger accessibility and reliability, especially in rural and long-distance areas.
The EU targets 3.5 million charging points by 2030. Under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR), fast-charging stations of at least 150 kW must be installed every 60 km along main transport routes by 2025.

The most common charging points in Europe are provided by IONITY, Tesla, and Fastned. All three companies are fully committed to driving e-mobility forward. There are also traditional petrol stations like Shell Recharge and energy providers such as EnBW Mobility+ that offer more and more fast charging options for EV owners.

The absolute leader in fast charging in Europe comes first on our list, of course. If you drive an electric car, you have probably charged your battery with IONITY at least once. The company is a joint venture of the car manufacturers BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche.

Key figures: The IONITY network operates over 4,500 high-power charging points. At the moment, more than 700 locations (there is normally more than one charging point available at one location) are active and around 80 new locations are planned. The number is constantly growing. Going forward, IONITY’s expansion will not only focus on highways and main roads but will also extend into urban areas. 

Not every electric car manufacturer can boast its own public charging points. Tesla, with its dedication to e-mobility, can. Its charging points are meant not just for Tesla owners but for all EV drivers. The famous Supercharger network keeps snowballing in Europe. You can find them near highways, in cities and rural areas.

Key figures: Tesla operates over 60,000 Superchargers worldwide. Europe has over 1.000 active Supercharger stations, including those in the UK and Switzerland.

Did you know that all Fastned charging stations are powered by 100% green electricity? We believe this information deserves a lot more attention. With so many charging points putting pressure on the grid, Fastned picked another way. Awesome!
Now, where can you find these eco-friendly fast charging options? You can charge with Fastned in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and some other European countries. Most of these stations can charge cars with up to 300 kW.

Key figures: Fastned operates over 320 fast-charging locations across the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, and other European countries.

Traditional energy giants like Shell and Aral Pulse also stepped into the game a while ago. Shell Recharge, which operates one of the largest public networks in Europe, keeps creating its own networks of fast charging stations. They are often located at existing fuel stations. 

Key figures: Shell Recharge has its own charging points and also partners with other operators in 33 countries. Thus with the Shell Recharge app and charge card, EV drivers can access a network of 700,000 AC and DC charging points from over 370 roaming partners.

EnBW, one of Germany’s largest energy providers, has been a strong player in the EV charging market through its EnBW Mobility+ initiative. The company is expanding its public charging network across Germany and neighbouring countries. You can find a lot of their fast charging stations at various locations, including highways and urban areas.

Key figures: The EnBW HyperNetwork includes over 700.000 AC and DC charging points in 17 European countries, including Austria. In Germany alone, more than 6.000 fast charging stations are available. 

One of the main issues is that fast chargers put a lot of pressure on local power grids. On top of that, steep installation costs are a real roadblock to expansion. It takes a lot of elbow grease and teamwork to make sure fast chargers run on renewable energy and to find suitable spots for them.

Fast chargers stress out local power grids as they pull a lot of electricity in a short time. Unlike smart AC chargers such as our go-e Charger that are able to control charging power based on the grid capacity. The most obvious solution for rapid chargers is upgrading the grid to handle the load, but this is costly.

Installing fast chargers, especially high-power ones, isn’t cheap for the charging station providers. Besides the equipment, there is money to pay for preparing the site, getting permits, and connecting to the grid. This naturally slows down expansion, especially in areas where there’s uncertainty about demand. 

While electric cars are awesome for reducing emissions, charging them with electricity that comes from fossil fuels kind of defeats the purpose. Making sure fast chargers are powered by clean, renewable energy like solar or wind is key to keeping e-driving truly green. Scaling up renewable energy to match charging growth, though, is a long-term challenge. 

Where do you usually find fast charging stations? Right, along major highways and sometimes in cities. This leaves rural and remote areas underserved, so-called "charging dead zones." It’s understandable from an economic point of view, as charging stations are less likely to be used in these areas frequently. Thus, covering these gaps requires some financial encouragement to charging station providers. Plus, getting access to the necessary power infrastructure can be a challenge. 

In cities, finding enough space for new fast charging stations can be tricky. Land is limited, and planners have to juggle a lot of competing needs. While this is not a problem for installing fast chargers in rural areas, getting access to the necessary power infrastructure can be a challenge. That’s actually why so many people prefer charging at home, which is usually possible regardless of the area where you live. 

Large and small charging station providers are expanding their fast-charging networks. They often receive support from government funding as European organisations are setting targets for new charging stations. Meanwhile, advanced technologies introduce the potential to improve charging speed.
Want to know more about what’s being done? Here are the key actions bringing us to better available fast charging:

IONITY, together with its stakeholders, including BMW Group, Ford Motor Company, Hyundai Motor Group with KIA, Mercedes-Benz AG and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche, has raised another €700 million to boost the number of high-power 350 kW charging points from 1,500 to 7,000 by 2025. The company IONITY operates already more than 4,500 charging points along European motorways in 24 countries.

Many charging network providers are all about HPC stations. For instance, the majority of IONITY charging stations offer 300-350 kW of power. Many electric car batteries can be charged from 20% to 80% in just about 20 to 30 minutes with this option. Plus, with new battery technology on the way (read more about that in the next section), charging speeds are likely to get even higher and charging times, accordingly, shorter.

The European Union's Green Deal is going to invest around €1 trillion into green initiatives by 2030. Some part of that money will go to expanding charging infrastructure. In the meantime, the EU has set a goal to install at least 1 million public charging points by 2025. The main idea is to have a charging station every 60 km along major highways. This is related to all kinds of charging stations, AC, DC, and HPC.

Charging time is about to get much faster with better car batteries and more powerful charging stations. With the increased use of renewable energy, charging will also become more sustainable.
Check out the key changes we are likely to see in EV charging technology in the near future.

Many electric car drivers know that fast charging can drain the battery faster than AC charging. But it's so incredibly tempting when you're on a long journey! That's one of the reasons why HPC chargers, which offer up to 350 kW of charging power, are in high demand. As it turns out, 350 kW is not the limit. 
In 2021, the EV technology developer Voltempo introduced its new charging system called HyperCharging. It can deliver 1,000 kW of power! Another surprise announced by the company is that it can charge up to 24 vehicles simultaneously. Where that much energy will come from at the same time is honestly a head-scratcher. The company said they plan to combine the national grid with local green energy sources. 
Of course, your vehicle must support such charging speeds. Currently, only a few cars allow for 350 kW charging, so it may be some time before EV drivers can benefit from 1,000 kW chargers. This might be particularly relevant for electric truck drivers who make a 45-minute stop every 4-5 hours. Currently, they can charge with a max of 500 kW.

We at go-e believe that to make EV charging more accessible, renewable energy is the way forward. That’s why all our wallboxes support PV surplus charging when paired with the go-e Controller or any other energy management system. 
The “renewable energy is the way to go” also goes for fast charging. We’re likely to see more and more charging stations generating their own power on-site. A good example is Fastned with its numerous solar-powered fast-charging stations across Europe. By the way, Tesla is also testing charging stations running on solar energy in the U.S.

Faster charging stations are not a real solution if the car batteries cannot cope with the charging power. We need improvements in all areas! This is where solid-state batteries might come into play. 
They use a solid electrolyte instead of the liquid one found in lithium-ion batteries, making them safer, with higher energy density and longer lifespan potential. These batteries are expected to come onto the market in the next few years. 
These batteries shall charge faster and have a higher energy density. The latter allows them to hold more power in a smaller space. As mentioned in the report by IDTechEx, solid-state batteries could cut charging times by 50% compared to today’s lithium-ion ones. 

Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway boast the most extensive charging networks, with a strong emphasis on integrating renewable energy. France, the UK, and the Nordic region are also making significant strides. Additionally, many EU countries are planning to provide more EV charging options.

E-mobility has taken quite some space in the climate action plan Germany developed. €5.5 billion has been set aside to expand the EV charging infrastructure within the country. Their rather ambitious goal is to install over 1 million new charging points by 2030. The country is home to the IONITY high-power charging network.. So even though the whole plan sounds quite significant, it is totally doable. 
In addition, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport has chosen ten operators to install fast-charging stations at about 900 locations nationwide. Part of the Deutschlandnetz project, this plan includes over 8,000 charging points to fill in gaps where charging options are limited. This project, started in 2021, aims to make fast EV charging more widely available and reliable across Germany.

In the Netherlands, you are not likely to get range anxiety. The country has one of the densest EV charging networks in Europe. As mentioned on the EAFO portal, by the end of 2023, there were 140,561 (AC) public charging points, and 3,892 (DC) public ones in the Netherlands. Right now, fast charging development is a top priority. The Dutch government is motivated to make all new cars electric by 2030. It’s no wonder they are moving so quickly to expand their charging infrastructure.

The Norwegian government has invested over 3 billion NOK (approx. 255 million EUR) in fast-charging infrastructure to support the shift toward e-mobility. Over 7,700 fast chargers were located along Norwegian roads at the beginning of 2024 — now there are even more.

France has set aside €1.9 billion to install fast charging stations along major highways AND in rural areas. Their original goal was to have 100,000 public charging points by the end of 2022. The plan was to offer an average of 10 charging points every 25 kilometres along main highways, each delivering 150 kW or more. Unfortunately, they missed that deadline. By now, though, the target has been reached. The new plan is to have an average of 10 charging points every 25 kilometres on main highways, with each point offering at least 150 kW of power.

Step by step, the UK is making a name for itself in fast-charging infrastructure. Thanks to its £950 (€1,139) million "Rapid Charging Fund," the UK is increasing the number of fast chargers. So far, the expansion is mostly focused on locating more charging stations along motorways and major roads. By 2035, the goal is to install 6,000 new high-powered charging points.