Left Party criticism: Small communities often without public charging stations
In over 40 percent of German municipalities, there are no public charging points for e-cars, criticizes the Left Party. Gaps are particularly large in the East.
Bartsch criticized that there are state subsidies for the purchase of electric cars, while the public charging infrastructure is lagging far behind. Nationwide, there were more than 200,000 public charging points as of April 1, 2026. Pictured: Hyundai Ioniq 6 (Test)
(Image: Martin Franz / heise Medien)
Anyone who owns an e-car often cannot find a public charging station in small municipalities. This is according to the federal government's responses to an inquiry by Left Party MP Dietmar Bartsch. In rural areas, charging at home or at the employer plays a central role, the Ministry of Transport emphasized. According to the response, 4548 (42 percent) of the 10,775 municipalities in Germany still have no public charging point. Five years ago, the number was around 2000 higher. The editorial network Germany initially reported on the data.
Municipality size plays a role
The proportion is highest in Rhineland-Palatinate (72 percent) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (68 percent), where the municipalities are relatively small, and in Thuringia (65 percent). In contrast, there are no blank spots on the charging maps of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland, apart from the city states of Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen, i.e., federal states with relatively large municipalities.
The federal government emphasized that 99 percent of municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants have at least one public charging point. For small municipalities, it referred to private charging and charging points at the employer.
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Criticism of purchase premium
Bartsch criticized that there are state subsidies for the purchase of electric cars, while the public charging infrastructure is lagging far behind. The Left Party politician pointed out that every second municipality in the East has no public charging point. The state e-car purchase premium provides for subsidies between 1500 and 6000 euros, depending on income and vehicle type, and applies retroactively to registrations since the beginning of the year.
A statistical effect likely also plays a role: municipalities in the East are smaller on average than in the West. Bartsch complained that the East is treated as secondary in e-mobility across the board. As of April 1 this year, the federal network agency's charging station register contained 200,255 public charging points. More than 51,000 of these were DC charging points.
(mfz)
