The large eMobility Excellence comparison determines the charging service with the most connected charging points in selected EU countries as well as the cheapest charging rate in Germany

The car manufacturers Audi, BMW/MINI, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, and Volkswagen offer access to a very large charging network. The charging services from BMW/MINI and Mercedes also perform best in the cost comparison. EnBW’s freely accessible EnBW mobility+ charging service has the largest European and Germany-wide network coverage in this year’s eMobility Excellence comparison. In addition, the freely accessible charging services Elli and CHARGE NOW also impress with a high number of integrated charging points. In the category of freely accessible charging services, the most favorable rate depends very much on user behavior. Overall, the tariffs from BayWa, EWE Go and Lichtblick perform very well in terms of charging costs.

Stuttgart/Munich, June 30, 2023 | N. Waxmann, H. Neumann, L. Hohenlohe, A. Meusel

The eMobility Excellence series provides an independent market comparison of different charging services in terms of the number of connected charging points and the best tariff options. For this purpose, 17 European countries were considered.

Across these markets, EnBW’s mobility+ free charging service provides the best network coverage through access to 414,000 charging points.

Places two to five are taken by the charging services of the car manufacturers BMW / Mini Charging, Mercedes me Charge, Kia Charge, and the free-access charging service CHARGE NOW (DCS), each with 395,000 charging points.

In general, there was strong growth in the number of charging points in Europe compared to the previous year. In the DACH region alone, an increase in charging points of around 50% was observed.

An analysis of the price and tariff models shows a general increase in costs across all user profiles compared with the previous year. Lichtblick, as a free charging service, offers the most favorable rate for both infrequent users with charging costs of 245 euros per year and for frequent users with costs of 2,087 euros per year.

Users that use on-street parking charge most favorably with the BMW Charging / Mini Charging Active rate with annual costs of 1,433 euros.

Second place for on-street parking users is taken by the Mercedes me Charge tariff L, with annual charging costs of 1,512 per year. However, these tariffs from Mercedes and BMW are only available to their customers. For on-street parking users who are not BMW, Mini or Mercedes customers, the Shell Recharge tariff with annual charging costs of 1,556 euros is the most favorable option.

Across the three profiles, the potential annual savings through the optimal choice of provider range between 288 euros for infrequent drivers, and 1,504 euros for frequent drivers.

Thus, a price comparison is recommended for each charging type.

With the current edition of the eMobility Excellence Comparison, P3, CHARGING RADAR and CIRRANTIC underline the claim to compare the charging market for German electric vehicle drivers as transparently as possible and to provide information on the number of connected charging points as well as the pricing and tariff structure of various charging services.

In this year’s comparison, the individual markets are again grouped into the market clusters DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Southern Europe (France, Italy, Liechtenstein), Northern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark) and selected Eastern European countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia).

In total, just under 523,000 publicly accessible charging points have now been set up in the above-mentioned markets as of the data collection date of March 31, 2023.

Compared to last year’s edition of the eMobility Excellence Report, there has been a significant increase in the number of charging points in all markets considered. Overall, the
number of charging points in the countries considered has grown by 57% since the last comparison.

If we look in particular at the sharp rise in fast-charging stations with a charging power of more than 150 kilowatts, it is clear that the expansion of the charging infrastructure is keeping pace with the enormous increase in the number of new registrations of electric vehicles.

Figure 1: Overview of available charging points in the markets under consideration

Figure 2: Development of available charging points in the markets under consideration

THE TEST CANDIDATES AT A GLANCE

This year’s eMobility Excellence charging service comparison includes the following free-access charging services: BayWa Tanken & Laden (BayWa), CHARGE NOW (DCS), DKV Mobility (DKV), Elli Charging (Elli), E.ON Drive (E.ON), EWE Go (EWE), Ladenetz.de (Smartlab), LichtBlick (LichtBlick), Maingau Autostrom (Maingau Energie), EnBW mobility+ (EnBW), Shell Recharge (Shell).

On the automotive side, the charging services of Charge myHyundai (Hyundai), Kia Charge (Kia), Mercedes me (Mercedes), Audi charging (Audi), My BMW (BMW) / MINI (MINI), Porsche Charging Service (Porsche) and We Charge (Volkswagen) were compared. It should be noted here that the charging services of the car manufacturers are mostly reserved exclusively for drivers of the respective brands.

Free-access charging services

Charging services from automotive manufacturers

Note: For better readability, We Charge (Volkswagen) is used in the report to represent all charging services of the Volkswagen Group, including: CUPRA / SEAT Easy Charging (Cupra / Seat) and Skoda Powerpass (Skoda).

In Germany, vehicle manufacturer Tesla has also been successively opening its fast-charging stations to brands of other car manufacturers since June 2022. As of software version 4.2.3, the Tesla app, which was previously only relevant for Tesla customers, now also offers users of external vehicle models with CCS fast-charging connections access to available charging locations, charging capacities and prices via the menu item “Charge your non-Tesla”. Since only Tesla’s own Supercharger charging stations are displayed in the Tesla app, Tesla occupies a special position in the market and is only included to a limited extent in this edition of the eMobility Excellence MSP Comparison. At present, Tesla’s Supercharger network consists of approximately 10,000 DC fast charging points in the countries under consideration. Approximately 2,400 of these charging points are located in Germany.

Note: In this comparison, only charging points for which a charging service is required for use and payment were considered. Free charging points in hotels or retail stores, for which no authorization or payment is required, are excluded for all providers, even if they are partially displayed to customers in the apps of the charging providers. However, the coverage rates in % refer to all charging points known to eMobility Excellence.

At the beginning of this report, the network coverage of the different charging services is examined. Here, the focus is on the network coverage of the MSPs (Mobility-Service-Provider) in the selected markets of the EU as well as in the DACH region. In the second part of this benchmark, the pricing model is examined across different driving profiles and the most favorable tariffs for end customers are determined depending on driving behavior.

Figure 3: Overview test scope

Of the freely available charging services, EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) offers its customers access to the most charging points in the countries compared.

Among the freely available charging services, mobility+ from EnBW provides access to the largest number of charging points in the 17 countries under review as of March 31st 2023, and leads the ranking ahead of CHARGE NOW (DCS) and Elli (Elli). It is followed by the charging services Shell Recharge (Shell) and Maingau Autostrom (Maingau Energie). The coverage of EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) in the countries considered is just under 80% of the total market, with 414,000 charging points. The second- and third-placed charging services have a market coverage of around 75%.

EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) also offers access to the largest number of charging points in the entire DACH region. This is once again followed by the charging services CHARGE NOW (DCS), Elli (Elli) and Shell Recharge (Shell). In the subsequent rankings in figure 5, the order of the charging services with the most connected charging points changes when compared to the ranking across all markets. The overall market in the DACH region has grown by almost 50% compared to the previous year’s reporting date to 141,000 charging points. EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) has almost the same, very good coverage in the DACH region as in the other markets with approx. 83%. The second- and third-placed services CHARGE NOW (DCS) and Elli (Elli) offer coverage of around 79% in the DACH region with around 111,000 connected charging points.

Figure 4: Number of MSP charging points in the markets under consideration | Non-Captive

Figure 5: Number of charging points of MSP in DACH| Non-Captive

Charging services offered by car manufacturers provide access to a large charging network for drivers of electric vehicles, but are usually only available to their own customers.

A large proportion of the charging points in the countries considered are also available via the charging services of the vehicle manufacturers. The charging services of Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Hyundai and Kia all offer access to over 387,000 charging points and thus cover around 75% of the charging points in the countries considered in this benchmark. With approximately 358,000 charging points, the Porsche Charging Service enables a lower number of integrated charging points compared to the other vehicle manufacturers. However, in relation to the entire competition (incl. free MSP services), the number of connected charging points of Porsche Charging Service is in the upper midfield.

However, since the favorable rates of these charging services offered by car manufacturers can usually only be used by the respective car buyers, they are considered here separately from the freely available charging services. Since 1 June, the We Charge (VW) charging service has also been available without an electric VW vehicle in the tariffs offered with a monthly basic fee. Due to the brand image and due to the fact that the tariff without a basic fee has to be linked to a VW vehicle, We Charge is nevertheless classified as a “captive”.

The car manufacturers’ charging services also have very high coverage in the DACH region. Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Hyundai, Kia and Porsche each offer access to over 107,000 charging points in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Figure 6: Number of MSP charging points in the markets under consideration | Captive

Figure 7: Number of charging points of MSP in DACH| Captive

Increase in annual charging costs since the last eMobility Excellence Benchmark, due to the energy crisis and the resulting increase in electricity prices.

In addition to market coverage, from the customer’s point of view, pricing in particular plays a major role in the selection of a suitable charging service. Due to the energy crisis and the resulting increase in electricity prices, a majority of charging services have raised their prices since last year’s eMobility Excellence Benchmark and, in some cases, completely restructured the tariff model. For example, in last year’s benchmark, BMW Charging / MINI Charging Active had the lowest average charging cost per year at €1,139, whereas this year this tariff comes in at €1,317 per year.

This result compares very favorably with the competition, but there is still a clear price increase of around 15%. This price increase is not only clearly visible in the BMW Charging / MINI Charging Active tariff, but also in many other competitors. In recent weeks and months, electricity prices have fallen again, and it remains to be seen when the first MSPs will also lower their prices and, if necessary, adjust their pricing models.

Since costs can vary greatly depending on vehicle category and user behavior, two reference vehicles were selected for better comparability, and three typical user profiles were defined:

Infrequent drivers
Infrequent drivers about 15,000 km per year and charge mainly at their own wallbox at their home parking space. Due to the low daily driving distances of 40km per day on average, less-chargers rarely rely on public charging stations. Charging behavior in public spaces is opportunistic and consists of about two charging processes per month. These take place, for example, at supermarkets, leisure facilities or long-distance highways.
Frequent drivers
Frequent drivers are characterized by a significantly higher driving distance of 30,000 km per year and also have their own charging facility at home. In this user profile, trips on the highway account for a high proportion of the distance traveled. Due to the long distances traveled in this user profile, more than half of the charging processes take place at public charging stations along highways. On average, this corresponds to just over ten charging processes in public spaces per month, the majority of which take place at fast charging stations.
On-street parkers
On-street parkers are comparable to less frequent chargers in terms of annual driving distance, but they do not have their own parking space and thus no private charging option. Accordingly, 100% of the charging processes are simulated in public spaces for this user profile. The average charging duration was adjusted so that charging processes with longer standing times and lower charging power, e.g. overnight, are also taken into account.

The annual charging costs per tariff were then calculated for each reference vehicle and user profile. The average across all user profiles yields the annual costs that are decisive for the analysis from the customer’s point of view. Detailed evaluations are then carried out for the individual user profiles. For the calculation of the annual charging costs of different charging services, the current price models as of the cut-off date 01.06.2023 were used.

1^st PLACE

Price comparison

BMW Charging / MINI Charging once again offer the lowest charging rate in Germany with the Active tariff.

best with average annual charging costs of 1,317 euros. For a monthly basic fee of 4.99 euros, customers charge at uniform prices of 36 cents for an AC and 55 cents for a DC kilowatt hour.

In the IONITY network, the kilowatt hour costs 79 cents, but BMW and MINI customers can reduce these costs to 35 cents for an optional monthly fee of 13 euros. After three hours of AC charging, a blocking charge of 6 cents per minute applies during the day between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. For DC charging, a blocking charge of 20 cents per minute is incurred after 1.5 hours, regardless of the time of day.

BMW or MINI customers who have purchased a fully electric or plug-in hybrid new vehicle through a BMW dealer or a BMW dealership are exempt from the basic Active tariff fee for one year when booking the Active tariff and also automatically receive the optional IONITY Plus package for one year without a basic fee.

2^nd PLACE

Price comparison

Second place goes to Mercedes Me Charge with the L tariff and average annual charging costs of 1,380 euros. This tariff from Mercedes Me Charge also relies on billing per kWh, but differs in that it has higher monthly fees (12.90 euros). Customers on this tariff can charge their vehicle for 36 cents per kilowatt hour (AC) and 55 cents per kilowatt hour (DC). The 55 cents per kilowatt hour (DC) also applies in IONITY charging network. After 3 hours of AC charging, a blocking fee of 6 cents per minute applies during the day between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. DC charging incurs a blocking charge of 20 cents per minute after one hour, regardless of the time of day.

3^rd PLACE

Price comparison

Mercedes Me Charge also takes third place with the M tariff and average annual charging costs of €1,502. This tariff includes a basic charge of 4.90 euros and enables AC charging for 42 cents per kWh DC charging for 65 cents per kWh. The regulation on the blocking fee is congruent with the regulation in the Mercedes Me Charge L tariff.

4^th PLACE

Price comparison

Fourth place in this year’s eMobility Excellence Benchmark is taken by the Lichtblick Vorteilstarif with annual charging costs of 1,594 euros. This tariff is available exclusively to the provider’s household electricity customers.

Customers on this tariff can AC charge for 44 cents per kWh plus a blocking fee of 10 cents per minute starting at 4 hours on the road. The DC tariff is based on an electricity price of 54 cents per kWh plus a blocking fee of 10 cents per minute from one hour.

5^th PLACE

Price comparison

With slightly lower annual charging costs of €1,599, BayWa’s charging tariff is in fifth place. With BayWa’s charging card, customers can charge for 60 cents per kWh AC, DC and HPC for a monthly basic fee of 4.99 euros.

The IONITY network can also be used for a price of 60 cents per kWh. Accordingly, the BayWa charging card performs with average annual charging costs of 1,581 euros. However, the comparison of the network size shows that with the BayWa charging card, customers have access to a sufficient, but comparatively small charging network.

Increasingly large number of MSP services

This year’s eMobility Excellence Benchmark shows that an increasingly large number of MSP services are introducing a so-called “uniform price model”. This means that uniform prices are defined for AC, DC and HPC charging, which are paid by the end customer independently of the charging station operator.

This trend leads to significantly higher transparency for end customers. In addition, more and more MSPs are introducing tariffs with a monthly basic fee, with which charging can take place at more attractive kWh prices. Furthermore, blocking fees have become established in the market. In this year’s eMobility Excellence Report, charging services that waive their blocking fees overnight (BMW Charging / MINI Charging Active, Mercedes me Charge L, Mercedes me Charge M) performed particularly well.

Figure 8: Average annual charging costs in euros (overall assessment across all driving profiles) | Non-Captive

Figure 9: Average annual charging costs in euros (overall assessment across all driving profiles) | Captive

Special features of charging rates

Since last year’s eMobility Excellence Benchmark, some charging services have introduced a blocking fee. This surcharge makes sense in principle when it comes to ensuring the availability of charging stations. On the other hand, it also makes average charging costs rise, especially when customers charge their electric vehicles overnight. Selected charging services such as E.ON Drive or some tariffs of the car manufacturers waive a blocking fee entirely or at certain times.

In addition, fewer and fewer providers are resorting to operator-specific pricing models and switching to uniform pricing models. This significantly increases transparency for end customers. The operator-specific price models are still mainly used in the basic tariffs for charging services without a monthly fee.

Another customer-relevant factor, especially for HPC charging, is the choice of charging station operator. Most charging services charge a surcharge for the use of certain networks (especially IONITY) or offer a separate tariff, which suggests high purchase prices that are subsequently passed on to the end customer.

However, all charging services offered by car manufacturers also offer charging tariffs or optional tariff packages in which more favorable kWh prices can be obtained in exchange for higher basic monthly fees. For frequent drivers with long highway routes and a high proportion of charging in the IONITY network, these tariffs can be worthwhile. In calculating the annual average costs, a share of one tenth of all HPC charging operations in the IONITY network was used. This corresponds to IONITY’s market share in the HPC segment.

The choice of a suitable charging tariff per user profile

A closer look at the different user profiles reveals that the appropriate rate depends heavily on the respective customer profile. While some tariffs are particularly favorable for one user profile, they can lead to very high costs in other user profiles. Knowing your own user profile is therefore essential when choosing suitable charging services and rates. The following rules of thumb have emerged in this year’s comparison:

Infrequent drivers Frequent drivers On-street parkers

For infrequent drivers with a low annual mileage who rarely rely on public charging stations, the level of the monthly charges is decisive. In general, it is recommended to look for low kWh prices when selecting a suitable charging rate. However, for a small number of public charging sessions, these low kWh prices often cannot offset the additional costs due to a monthly base fee.

For drivers with a infrequent driver profile are therefore recommended the charging tariffs that have the lowest possible monthly fees for low electricity costs. In addition to the Maingau Autostrom (Maingau Energie), EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) and LichtBlick (LichtBlick) rates, which are only available to electricity customers, the Maingau Autostrom (Maingau Energie), EWE Go (EWE), EnBW mobility+ Ladetarif S (EnbW) and BMW Charging / MINI Charging Active (BMW/MINI) rates are worthwhile for customers with this user profile.

Average annual charging costs for infrequent chargers in euros | Non-Captive

Average annual charging costs for infrequent chargers in euros | Captive

Frequent drivers are characterized by a higher average driving distance per year, most of which is driven on highways. Accordingly, most charging processes take place at HPC charging stations, which can be found throughout the country along highways. For this user profile, tariffs that offer favorable conditions for HPC charging can be particularly worthwhile. All charging services of the car manufacturers offer tariffs that are particularly suitable for this user profile: For a monthly fee of usually around 5 euros, customers are offered more favorable kWh prices, both for HPC and for DC and AC charging processes.

In addition, these charging services usually also offer favorable conditions for the IONITY network for an additionally increased basic fee, through which customers can save further costs depending on their use of the network. Among the free charging services considered, there are also tariffs that offer favorable electricity prices for HPC charging. It is important to note here that many free-access charging services charge higher prices for the IONITY network, which can lead to very high costs if necessary. Despite the high proportion of HPC charging, AC and DC prices should nevertheless also be compared, depending on individual consumption. For customers with this user profile, the charging tariffs Lichtblick Vorteil (Lichtblick), BMW Charging / MINI Charging Active (BMW/MINI), Mercedes me Charge L (Mercedes) and EnBW mobility+ Charging Tariff L (EnBW) are particularly worthwhile. The Lichtblick Vorteil charging tariff is only available in combination with a household electricity contract.

Average annual charging costs for frequent drivers in euros | Non-Captive

Average annual charging costs for frequent drivers in euros | Captive

On-street parkers charge exclusively in public spaces and are comparable to frequent drivers in terms of the amount of energy recharged. However, because they travel shorter distances on average, the demand for fast charging along highways is also lower. This user profile was simulated predominantly with AC charging occurring overnight.

Due to the long standing times involved in overnight charging, many tariffs can result in particularly high costs. This is true if a time-based billing component is charged in addition to the pricing of the recharged electricity, often in the form of a blocking fee. For customers with this charging profile, it is therefore recommended to select among the tariffs with the lowest electricity prices and with no or only daytime time-based billing component. The lowest-cost tariffs for this user profile are BMW Charging / MINI Charging Active, Mercedes me Charge L and Shell Recharge in the company’s own charging network. BMW Charging /MINI Charging Active perform particularly well in this driving profile, as there is no overnight blocking charge. With Shell Recharge, the blocking fee is limited to €12 and thus offers an advantage for the on-street profile over other tariffs.

Average annual charging costs for on-street-parkers in euros | Non-Captive

Average annual charging costs for on-street-parkers in euros | Captive

Regional charging services

For customers, it may be worthwhile to include regional providers in the comparison, as these sometimes offer attractive rate conditions with good regional network coverage. However, these regional charging services are not the focus of the eMobility Excellence comparison. When looking at large metropolitan regions in Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Hanover, Hamburg), the metropolis charging services are predominantly found among the charging services with the most connected charging points per metropolis.

Nevertheless, it is advisable to take a closer look at the regional charging services, as some of them offer very attractive charging conditions. In Düsseldorf, customers on the Düsselstrom mobil tariff of Stadtwerke Düsseldorf pay a particularly favorable electricity price of 47 cents per AC kWh for 3 euros a month. In addition, blocking fees are only charged during the day. Therefore, this tariff can be very interesting especially for customers who are completely dependent on the public charging infrastructure and charge predominantly overnight. DC charging is charged by Stadtwerke Düsseldorf in its own network at 59 cents per kilowatt hour plus blocking fee.

In Cologne, customers of the TankE network can charge at RheinEnergie charging points for 45 cents/kWh (AC) and 55 cents/kWh (DC) – without a monthly basic charge.

In Hamburg, too, it’s worth taking a look at the regional provider: at all charging stations operated by Stromnetz Hamburg, it is possible to use the E-Charging app to pay just 44 cents per kilowatt hour at AC charging stations and 50 cents per kWh at DC charging stations, but a surcharge of 2.06 euros is levied per charging process.

In principle, the regional charging services offer very attractive conditions for one’s own network, but it is also recommended here to compare several charging services and select the charging service that best fits one’s own user profile. Due to the regionally limited distribution of the local charging services, the charging rates offered are more interesting for customers who mainly travel locally.

Tesla Supercharger network with different prices per location and time of day

In the app of the vehicle manufacturer Tesla, the price per kWh in the Supercharge network varies depending on location and time of day. For example, customers pay significantly higher prices at the charging station during the so-called “on-peak rate” between 4pm and 8pm than outside the peak period. In addition, Tesla customers benefit from a reduced charging price (sample 01.06.2023: 41 to 47 cents) at the Superchargers compared to drivers of other brands (sample 01.06.2023: 55 to 64 cents). However, for 12.99 euros per month, non-Tesla customers can also purchase a Supercharger membership via the Tesla app, which lowers the charging fees to the level of Tesla drivers.

Separately, Tesla charges a blocking fee (50 cents in Germany) at Supercharger charging parks with 50% or more occupancy for each vehicle still occupying a Supercharger charging spot after charging is complete. Blocking fees double if the Supercharger charging park is at 100% capacity (1 euro in Germany). Due to its special position and the location- and time-based rate structures in the European market, Tesla is not compared with the other charging services in the following illustrations.

EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) bietet Zugang zum größten HPC-Ladenetz in den der DACH-Region. Preise für das HPC-Laden sind im vergangenen Jahr stark angestiegen.

Looking only at access to HPC charging points, which are particularly important for long-distance trips with charging capacities of 150kW and more, EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) offers the highest HPC coverage in the DACH region with 11,800 connected charging points. Among the free-access charging services, CHARGE NOW (DCS) and Elli (Elli) follow in second and third place with at least 11,400 charging points. Of particular interest to electric vehicle drivers is the market growth in the HPC charging point segment. While MSP EnBW mobility+ (EnBW), which was also ranked first a year ago, had connected 5,000 HPC charging points in the DACH region as of the reporting date of March 31, 2022, it already has almost 7,000 more charging points. This corresponds to a growth of 140% over this period. The dynamic expansion of (fast) charging infrastructure is thus continuing unabated. Due to the already existing very good coverage of the fast charging network along highways, HPC charging parks are now also increasingly being built in urban centers. As a result, long-distance electric mobility is already made possible by a comprehensive network of high-performance charging stations in the countries under consideration, but especially in the DACH region.

In the wake of market-wide price increases, the prices for using the HPC charging infrastructure have also increased, in some cases sharply. The lowest prices for HPC charging in Germany (among the freely available charging services) are offered by EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) with its L charging tariff (39 cents/kWh for charging at own stations, 50 ct/kWh for roaming stations and 79 cents/kWh for IONITY stations, in each case plus blocking fee) and Lichtblick with its FahrStrom Unterwegs Vorteil tariff (54 ct/kWh plus blocking fee). However, this LichtBlick charging tariff is only available in combination with a household electricity contract. The Elli Drive Highway and Audi charging pro tariffs also include attractive conditions (50 ct/kWh) for charging in selected HPC partner networks (e.g. IONITY, Ewiva, Audi Charging Hub and Aral pulse).

The charging services of the car manufacturers also offer very good HPC network coverage in the DACH region. The charging services of BMW / MINI, Hyundai, Audi, Mercedes, Kia and Volkswagen are in first place. Porsche’s charging service follows in a close second place with around 11,050 connected charging points. Compared with the overall competition, Porsche’s charging service nevertheless offers very good HPC coverage in the DACH region. With around 3,200 fast-charging points in the Supercharger network and thus in its own app, Tesla offers its customers access to the smallest HPC network in the DACH region. In its own network, Tesla offers customers many advanced functions (e.g. Plug&Charge), a high standard facilities at the charging locations (e.g. partial roofing, toilets) and comparatively low HPC charging rates without a monthly basic fee.

Among the vehicle manufacturers, BMW / MINI Charging offers the most attractive tariff for intensive use of HPC charging infrastructure with 55 cents/kWh in the Active tariff. Mercedes customers can also charge at a favorable rate of 55 cents/kWh with the L tariff. In addition, customers of the car manufacturers have the option of using the IONITY network at a favorable rate. By choosing a tariff with a higher basic fee, the kilowatt-hour prices in the network in question are reduced, in some cases significantly, to 35 cents (BMW / MINI Charging IONITY Plus), 64 cents (Kia Charge IONITY, Charge myHyundai IONITY), and 50 cents (Audi e-tron Charging Service Pro, Volkswagen We Charge Plus). The Audi charging pro tariff can also be used for charging in selected HPC partner networks (e.g. IONITY, Ewiva, Audi Charging Hub and Aral pulse) for 50 ct/kWh. For new customers of these brands, sometimes even the basic fee for the first year of use is waived.

Figure 16: Number of HPC charging points of MSP in the DACH region | Non-Captive

Figure 17: Number of HPC charging points of MSP in the DACH region | Captive

About the methodology

The calculation of the market coverage of various charging services was performed on only the publicly accessible charging points available as of the cut-off date of March 31, 2023, that enable billable charging processes, and that are accessible via an authentication medium, such as an app or via RFID card. Furthermore, only connection points that comply with the official standards for charging in Europe¹ and were built for charging electric vehicles were considered. Therefore, there may be deviations in the analysis compared to provider information. According to these criteria, the total number of charging points for the countries under consideration as of the reporting date of March 31, 2023 is just under 523,000, of which 458,000 are AC charging points (alternating current connections) and 65,000 are DC charging points (direct current connections).

Among the DC charging points, approximately 35,000 charging points are in the HPC (high power charging) category, which enable charging power of 150kW or more.

¹According to the IEC: International Electrotechnical Commission. Only “Type 2” charging points for AC charging and “CCS Combo 2” and “CHAdeMO” charging points for DC charging were considered.

The total market for charging infrastructure in the countries studied is likely to exceed these figures again, as numerous micro-operators offer charging options that have no connectivity and thus cannot be recorded or are reserved for only a certain group of people.

The eMobility Excellence Comparison data is based on CHARGING RADAR, a business intelligence and data analytics platform for public charging infrastructure from THEON Data and CIRRANTiC, which collects and aggregates data from various CPOs and MSPs. This data is validated, verified and reconciled with participating MSPs by technology consultancy P3 using its own charging infrastructure database. Discrepancies between the information provided by the providers and the information from CHARGING RADAR result in part from different filter criteria on accessibility, power classes and plug types – for example, the analysis does not take into account Schuko sockets or private charging points.

Great importance was attached to transparent implementation, so that only charging points meeting the above criteria were included in the statistics, because different counting methods and definitions can result in sometimes considerable differences in the network size of the MSPs. For example, some charging networks list charging points that are not publicly accessible in the apps or also those charging points that have been dismantled again. Duplications, for example due to operator changes, also occur in practice. By cleaning up this data, P3, CIRRANTIC and THEON Data create a uniform, transparent comparison of the market coverage of different charging services and finally derive the final market comparison and rankings.

There is still a wide variance in pricing and tariff models on the market for public charging infrastructure.

The second category of the eMobility Excellence comparison looks at tariffs and costs for charging from the end customer’s point of view. Using a specially developed methodology, the eMobility Excellence Report sheds light on the situation and creates a uniform basis for comparing heterogeneous tariff models and prices: For the MSPs considered, the prices at the ten largest CPOs in Germany were analyzed. The current pricing models as of 01.06.2023 were used to calculate the annual charging costs of various charging services. Standardized driving and charging profiles were then used to calculate the annual costs from the end customer’s perspective. This calculation was based on two reference vehicles, a long-distance SUV and an urban vehicle, which differ primarily in their energy consumption and maximum DC charging power. Furthermore, three typical user profiles were defined (infrequent chargers and frequent drivers, each with a charging option (e.g. wallbox) at their home parking space, as well as on-street parkers who rely 100% on public charging). For each vehicle and user profile, the annual charging costs per tariff were calculated. The average results in the annual costs that are decisive for the analysis from the customer’s point of view.

From the end customer’s point of view, the central aspect is the clear comprehensibility of pricing. The providers differ fundamentally in their pricing. While some charging services offer a uniform pricing model across various operators and thus offer end customers a high degree of transparency, other MSPs have operator-specific models that can lead to major differences in billing and thus represent an additional risk factor from the end customer’s perspective, e.g., in the case of unexpectedly long parking times and minute-based billing.

Figure 18: Overview of driving profiles

Finally, there is a wide variety of different charging rates and pricing models. From registration and basic fees to flat rates, start or session tariffs, energy or time-based billing, and a combination of different models, virtually everything is currently available on the market. The tariff models and charging rates of the individual MSPs differ considerably in some cases, which means that electric vehicle drivers must deal with different prices at one and the same charging station depending on the MSP used. It is therefore worth comparing the prices before charging. Particularly when charging with RFID cards, this can sometimes result in undesirably high bills, as the customer does not know the exact prices for the respective charging station. In order to put an end to the variety of different charging rates and pricing models, the Federal Network Agency recently launched a consultation process. The agency’s goal is to limit the market power of CPOs and thus enable customers to charge at all public charging stations with the conditions of a specific supplier.

eMobility Excellence

The large eMobility Excellence comparison determines the charging service with the most connected charging points in selected EU countries as well as the cheapest charging rate in Germany

THE TEST CANDIDATES AT A GLANCE

Free-access charging services

Charging services from automotive manufacturers

Of the freely available charging services, EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) offers its customers access to the most charging points in the countries compared.

Charging services offered by car manufacturers provide access to a large charging network for drivers of electric vehicles, but are usually only available to their own customers.

Increase in annual charging costs since the last eMobility Excellence Benchmark, due to the energy crisis and the resulting increase in electricity prices.

1^st PLACE

BMW Charging / MINI Charging once again offer the lowest charging rate in Germany with the Active tariff.

2^nd PLACE

3^rd PLACE

4^th PLACE

5^th PLACE

Increasingly large number of MSP services

Special features of charging rates

The choice of a suitable charging tariff per user profile

Regional charging services

Tesla Supercharger network with different prices per location and time of day

EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) bietet Zugang zum größten HPC-Ladenetz in den der DACH-Region. Preise für das HPC-Laden sind im vergangenen Jahr stark angestiegen.

About the methodology

Profiles

P3 automotive GmbH

CHARGING RADAR

The large eMobility Excellence comparison determines the charging service with the most connected charging points in selected EU countries as well as the cheapest charging rate in Germany

THE TEST CANDIDATES AT A GLANCE

Free-access charging services

Charging services from automotive manufacturers

Of the freely available charging services, EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) offers its customers access to the most charging points in the countries compared.

Charging services offered by car manufacturers provide access to a large charging network for drivers of electric vehicles, but are usually only available to their own customers.

Increase in annual charging costs since the last eMobility Excellence Benchmark, due to the energy crisis and the resulting increase in electricity prices.

1st PLACE

BMW Charging / MINI Charging once again offer the lowest charging rate in Germany with the Active tariff.

2nd PLACE

3rd PLACE

4th PLACE

5th PLACE

Increasingly large number of MSP services

Special features of charging rates

The choice of a suitable charging tariff per user profile

Regional charging services

Tesla Supercharger network with different prices per location and time of day

EnBW mobility+ (EnBW) bietet Zugang zum größten HPC-Ladenetz in den der DACH-Region. Preise für das HPC-Laden sind im vergangenen Jahr stark angestiegen.

About the methodology

Profiles

P3 automotive GmbH

CHARGING RADAR

1^st PLACE

2^nd PLACE

3^rd PLACE

4^th PLACE

5^th PLACE