Accessibility of public charging stations for electric vehicles in Germany: analysis of the expansion status in 2023

Spatial inequalities in the accessibility of public charging stations in 2023 are in the focus of a publication by Dr. Stefan Neumeier and Torsten Osigus published in The Geographical Journal. To address these questions, they used the Thünen accessibility model to investigate the nationwide distribution, accessibility and number of available charging options at public charging stations in Germany.

It was found that the network of public charging stations in Germany is quite dense. On closer inspection, however, it becomes clear that the charging infrastructure has so far been tailored more to the needs of car journeys in the surroundings of the immediate residential area (commuting, shopping, leisure) and less to travelers covering longer distances. In addition, the data indicates that purely residential areas are not yet so well served by the public charging infrastructure, meaning that residents without access to their own wall box often do not have sufficient charging options.

The maps in the figure show the accessibility of the nearest normal respectively fast charging point in terms of travel time at the level of the 250m x 250m analysis grid.

The study can be accessed here:

https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/geoj.12570