22.10.2024

Improving the charging infrastructure in Germany

Building design

Germany's charging infrastructure for e-cars faces the problem that there are not enough public charging points. Image source: Pixabay

The charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in Germany leaves a lot to be desired: although there are more and more e-cars, the number of public charging points is not keeping pace. Read more about the German government’s master plan to promote e-mobility here.

Germany still lacks many publicly accessible charging points to achieve the traffic turnaround with electric vehicles. This is because these vehicles need their own charging point. This cannot be located in the already well-developed network of charging stations without structural adjustments. Accordingly, the charging infrastructure and the speed of its expansion is a key factor for the future acceptance and spread of electric vehicles.

There has recently been good news on this front: The Federal Network Agency has recorded a continuous increase in available charging points. In 2021, the largest increase in charging stations to date took place with over 7,600 public charging points. At the same time, demand is significantly higher: in 2025, Germany will probably need over 250,000 charging points for electric vehicles. As 69% of those surveyed stated that they would not buy an electric car due to too few charging stations, investment in expansion is urgently needed.

At the same time, Germany intends to achieve its climate targets by reducing emissions in transport, among other things. There should be around 15 million electric cars by 2030. The federal government is funding the expansion of the necessary charging infrastructure – one million charging points are needed. For example, 800 million euros are available for private wallboxes, and consumers receive 900 euros for the expansion of charging points. So many applications have been received for this that the maximum funding amount has already increased several times.

The growing gap between the number of electric cars and the number of public charging stations is particularly problematic. Around 60 percent of private parking spaces for electric cars have a charging point, which means that over a third of the energy must be made available publicly or in company parking lots.

A data analysis shows that 27 electric cars in Germany currently have to share a charging station. At the beginning of 2023, around one million electric cars were registered in this country, a share of just over 2.1 percent of the total car fleet. According to map and navigation service provider Here Technologies, 105,000 public charging points are available.

Interactive maps on the service provider’s website show how many electric cars and charging points are available in each German district. This shows that most electric cars can be found in large cities, where there are also the most charging points. In Berlin, for example, 9 electric cars share a public charging point, while in Wiesbaden there are almost 50 vehicles.

In addition to the availability of charging points, users are also concerned about the charging time of electric vehicles. This is because combustion engines only need a few minutes to fill up. Electric cars need between one and five hours, depending on the model and power of the charging station. Fast-charging stations offer a higher kW output, allowing cars to charge to about half capacity in 30 minutes or less. However, there are still very few fast-charging stations in Germany.

In addition to the number of charging stations, some of which consist of several charging points, it is also useful to look at the distribution of the charging infrastructure in Germany. In Stuttgart, there are around 23 charging stations per ten square kilometers, while in the district of Mecklenburgische Seenplatte there are only 0.1 charging stations. The density is lowest in the center and east of Germany and highest in the west and south.

A Europe-wide comparison shows that the charging infrastructure in this country is very unevenly distributed. Although the number of electric cars in Germany is quite high, the number of charging points in an EU comparison and in relation to the number of cars is rather low. In the Netherlands, there are seven cars for every charging station.

The comparison by the British agency Uswich, which assesses the charging infrastructure in 33 major European cities, is also interesting. The Icelandic capital Reykjavík is at the top of the list, as 65% of charging stations here provide free electricity. At an average of 0.29 euros, the chargeable electricity is quite cheap – in Germany, prices range between 0.25 and 0.50 euros per kWh. Glasgow and Lisbon also perform well in the comparison due to a high density of charging stations and low prices. Cologne and Frankfurt, on the other hand, are further down the rankings, as charging is significantly more expensive here – and the charging infrastructure still leaves a lot to be desired.

In October 2022, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing adopted a master plan for the expansion of the charging network, which aims to provide one million publicly accessible charging points by 2030. There is a budget of 6.3 billion euros for this. For this to work, over 130,000 new charging points would have to be added every year from 2023.

The German Association of Energy and Water Industries expressed doubts about achieving this target. With the measures taken so far, figures such as 15 million e-cars by 2030 cannot be achieved. Furthermore, according to the association, it is not the number of charging stations that matters, but their performance. Accordingly, it advises that the focus of the charging infrastructure in Germany should be on improving charging capacity in order to be able to charge more vehicles per day.

In addition, the German government plans to implement further measures to reduce CO2 emissions in road traffic and promote electromobility. These include charging stations at transport hubs, the integration of fast-charging stations into the power grid, better digitalization of the charging station overview, new locations, the promotion of solar systems for self-sufficient drivers and investments in electric trucks. With the growth plan for e-mobility, electric cars could account for up to eight percent of electricity consumption in future instead of 0.5 percent.

Also exciting: in May 2022, G+L focused on the topic of mobility in Europe and presented many interesting projects.

24.12.2024

Product

Building with systems: The Baumeister in August 2022

Building design

In August, B8 "Building with systems", we look at residential construction on a larger scale. You can read more about the individual projects here. The cover photo of B8 is by Hendrik Lietmann — The cover photo of B8 is by Hendrik Lietmann, Ostkreuz.

Better big? Residential construction on a larger scale does not usually have a good reputation. However, it is clear that new living space is needed, especially in cities. In addition, the aspect of sustainability in construction is becoming increasingly important. You can find out whether large-scale residential construction can offer a solution to these challenges in the August issue. Read more in the editorial by Editor-in-Chief Fabian Peters.

Better big? Residential construction on a larger scale does not usually have a good reputation. However, it is clear that new living space is needed in cities in particular. In addition, the aspect of sustainability in construction is becoming increasingly important. You can find out whether large-scale residential construction can offer a solution to these challenges in the August issue. Read more in the editorial by Editor-in-Chief Fabian Peters.

Lack of living space

“We need to build more apartments!” This is apparently the majority opinion among politicians. The not-so-new German government has taken up this goal and written it into the coalition agreement. “We must hardly build any more, if at all”, say climate researchers and environmental activists, referring to the enormous amounts of energy consumed in the process. One thing is certain: If the answer to the lack of living space in metropolitan areas, especially affordable living space, can only be new construction, then small apartment buildings or even single-family homes will not be an option. We need to plan and build in large formats. And as little energy as possible must be used in the process. This can be achieved by using sustainable materials and building as efficiently as possible. Industrial construction methods could play a key role in the future.

The fate of large buildings

Industrial construction? For many, the images of large housing estates in both East and West immediately spring to mind. In West Germany, these neighborhoods were the epitome of social hotspots – and in many cases still are today. Much has now been achieved through neighborhood management. Nevertheless – whether Chorweiler, Neuperlach, Gropiusstadt or Märkisches Viertel, these are addresses that still have a stigma attached to them. Can new large-scale residential buildings escape the fate of their predecessors from the sixties and seventies? Or will we have a new Pruitt-Igoe moment in 25 years’ time?

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Building on a larger scale as a solution to the lack of living space?

For this issue, we looked at different concepts for large-scale residential construction, talked to experts about technologies and strategies, and looked at projects and experiences in our neighboring countries France, Austria and the Netherlands. Whether we want to create more living space in the future in the form of large-scale residential construction and to what extent – this is a discussion we will have to have intensively in the coming years.

The B8 is available in our online store.

Our South Tyrol issue was published in July, in which we looked at new buildings in rural areas and the conversion of historic buildings. Read more here: South Tyrol

08.12.2024

Event

Roger Boltshauser: Plea for earth building

Building design

An exhibition on Roger Boltshauser in Stuttgart's Weißenhofsiedlung in March and April shows his exploration of earth building. Sketch: Roger Boltshauser — Roger Boltshauser Response 02.03/23.04.2023, sketch: Roger Boltshauser

An exhibition on Roger Boltshauser opens in Stuttgart’s Weißenhofsiedlung at the beginning of March. His work combines art, design and building as well as a passion for clay as a material.

An exhibition on Roger Boltshauser opens in Stuttgart’s Weißenhofsiedlung at the beginning of March. His work combines art, design and building, as well as a passion for clay as a material.

“If you could eat it, you’d call it superfood.” This is how the organizers whet the appetite for the exhibition on Roger Boltshauser and his clay architecture. It should be sufficiently well known by now that clay is a moisture buffer and fire protection, has a balancing effect on the indoor climate, keeps wooden structures dry, can be found almost everywhere in the world and is easy to work with. And yet we cannot talk enough about this building material and promote it.

An exhibition in Stuttgart does the same and shows the work of Swiss architect Roger Boltshauser, who works a lot with clay construction. For him, it is “a kind of fundamental experience” that still spurs him on today, makes him courageous, but also critical of all conventions and constantly drives him to find new solutions. Boltshauser then became known to a wider circle in 2008 when he and Martin Rauch built the latter’s single-family house from rammed earth in Vorarlberg (Baumeister 7/2009). At the time, it was still said that they were building “at their own risk”, a test building. The realization required ten to twenty times less energy than a conventional concrete or brick building. However, the amount of work involved was very high.

Some clients are now also enthusiastic about earth building, and a few larger earth buildings have already been built – such as the Ricola Herbal Center by Herzog & de Meuron or the Alnatura office building by Haas Cook Zemmrich. Boltshauser is working on a number of promising research projects and is also planning large buildings made of rammed earth. In his opinion, the future belongs to intelligent hybrid constructions. His colleague Martin Rauch is convinced that the next decade will be an era of earth building. It brings a new aspect of responsibility to planning and building – “simply building, putting perfectionism into perspective”, as he puts it(Baumeister 6/2021).

In this respect, one can never make enough pleas for earth building – as the architect will certainly do in his opening speech at the Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart next Wednesday. The exhibition on Boltshauser aims to show that in his work, art, design and construction combine in “constant parallel processes”. Some of his collage sketches will therefore also be on display. Ultimately, it is clear that Roger Boltshauser is concerned at all levels with the search for an authentic answer.

From 2 March to 23 April 2023 at the Architekturgalerie am Weißenhof | Stuttgarter Weißenhofsiedlung, Am Weißenhof 30, Stuttgart | Curated by Roger Boltshauser with Atelier Andrea Gassner | Organized by Kyra Bullert | Exhibition design: Atelier Andrea Gassner | Vernissage: Wednesday, 1 March 2023, 7 pm: Lecture by Roger Boltshauser in the lecture hall Neubau 2

By the way, also in Stuttgart: an eyewear store with panache