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The number of charging stations for electric cars in Germany is increasing, and it is becoming easier and easier to find a way, at least in theory, to refuel.

But the owners of electric cars know that not all charging points are the same.

There is still a lack of standards such as a uniform payment system that guarantee that customers of Stadtwerke München in Flensburg can refuel at every charging station.

The federal government knows the problem, but the solution is apparently taking much longer than expected.

This emerges from an answer to a small question from the parliamentary group of the Greens, which WELT has received.

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In the answer, the federal government is quite critical: "The federal government assesses the user-friendliness of the currently existing charging infrastructure overall as still expandable," says the paper from the Federal Ministry of Economics.

"Decisive for this are unhindered access, a uniform, simple payment system, an overall digital system for displaying charging points as well as their occupancy, operability and charging time."

But so far there can be no question of that in Germany.

The federal government therefore points out that it is not only planning to adapt the legal framework in the form of a new charging station ordinance, but also to adopt the so-called “charging infrastructure master plan”.

However, this has been in place since 2019. The amendment to the charging station ordinance should actually have taken place last year, now it is planned for mid-2021.

New regulation should regulate ad hoc loading

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After all, so-called ad-hoc charging should also be regulated in the new regulation, so that you can simply charge and pay at any time, just like at any petrol pump at a petrol station.

The progress made along the way, however, remains vague.

The new charging infrastructure control center has developed a “user journey” on how the customer experience at the charging station should look in the future.

Otherwise there is a lot of research into what could be possible.

In fact, there is a lot of chaos for charging stations in Germany.

According to the federal government, a total of 2362 companies operated public charging stations at the beginning of February - and by no means all of them agree on standards.

The largest provider is EnBW with almost 2900 charging points.

In addition to power companies, municipal utilities and car manufacturers, numerous retail chains also appear in the list.

For example, Lidl now operates 754 charging points, Ikea has 225 and Aldi still has 101.

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Often there are charging cards with which the electricity can be paid for at the pillars.

According to the federal government, the ordinance stipulates that another payment method must also be possible at pillars that have been in operation since December 2017: cash, EC or credit card or payment by app or with a QR code.

How many different apps for paying there are in Germany and at how many stations you can spontaneously pay with debit or credit cards, you don't know, replies the federal government.

In their emergency, electric car drivers therefore resort to roaming, in which case their own electricity provider negotiates with the operators of other pillars that charging can also be carried out there - but often for a surcharge.

The system is comparable to making calls on the mobile phone abroad.

There you have to reckon with significantly higher costs - at least outside the EU - if you use the network of another provider via roaming.

Often times, prices on charging stations cannot be read

But the problem often starts much earlier: Many of the pillars do not show how high the final price of the charging process will be.

A display as you know it from every petrol station is by no means a matter of course.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced that a change to the Price Indication Ordinance is being examined.

“The accompanying regulation in the field of electromobility has been a tragedy for years.

This applies in particular to consumer friendliness, ”says the deputy chairman of the Greens in the Bundestag, Oliver Krischer, WELT.

It was either not planned at all or poorly, and too many different ministries were involved.

"As a driver of an electric car, you get annoyed that umpteen apps or billing cards are needed to get around the country," says Krischer.

He cites the Netherlands as a role model, where there was only a payment function from the start.

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“The ministries are understaffed when it comes to electromobility, and there is no one who really thinks ahead and brings order to the matter,” says the opposition politician.

“As a driver of an electric car, I don't want to have twelve different apps on my cell phone.

Payment by debit card or with a uniform app should become standard. "

After all, the government's response also shows that the number of those who are annoyed by this chaos at the public charging stations is still small.

An average of just 0.2 times a day is charged at normal charging stations, while the fast charging stations charge 0.6 times per day.

However, that could change soon, the number of registered electric cars is increasing rapidly.