06What's plugging into the grid?

The Price Jungle: what public charging costs

What does it cost to charge an electric car in public in Germany, and what does an operator earn from it?

Public charging in Germany cost roughly 29–89 ct/kWh in mid-2026, depending on operator, contract, slow (AC) or fast (DC) charging, and roaming. Household electricity cost about 30–35 ct/kWh.

The widest split is between paying ad hoc and holding a contract: a survey of motorway fast charging in May 2025 by the motoring club ADAC found ad-hoc charging up to 62% more expensive than the same operator's contract tariff.

Germany's competition authority, the Bundeskartellamt, found in its sector inquiry (final report October 2024) that competition in charging electricity often does not work properly. It also found that price differences do not prove systematic nationwide overpricing, since chargers that are rarely used can justify high prices, and it rejected price caps as counterproductive.

Fastned, the one fast-charging operator with audited public accounts (it is listed on Euronext), earned €122.4 million in 2025, up 47%.

Its operational EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was €43.6 million, a 36% margin, across 406 stations in 9 countries.

The company still made a net loss of €30.2 million, roughly 12% wider than 2024, as capex and grid fees rose. Revenue per station rose to about €331 000 with utilisation around 13.2%.

The Spark Alliance (renamed Charge League) pools Ionity, Fastned, Electra and Atlante into a roaming network of over 11 000 points in 25 countries.

A cited range of published tariffs, each dated at the source; Germany's grid regulator (BNetzA) collects no tariff data. The operator figures are one listed company's audited results, and other operators may differ.

Published tariffs
ct/kWh: a cited range of published tariffs
What the Bundeskartellamt, Germany's competition authority, found
    What the operator earns: Fastned's audited year
    € million: revenue, operational EBITDA, net result
    What one audited year shows
    reading one audited window
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      Questions

      How much does public charging cost in Germany?

      Roughly 29–89 ct/kWh in published tariffs as of July 2026, depending on operator, contract, slow (AC) or fast (DC) charging, and roaming; household electricity cost about 30–35 ct/kWh. This is a cited range of tariffs, each dated at its source, because the grid regulator collects no tariff data.

      Is charging without a contract more expensive?

      Often, yes. A survey of motorway fast charging by the motoring club ADAC in May 2025 found ad-hoc charging up to 62% more expensive than the same operator's contract tariff. Public tariffs as of July 2026 ranged from about 29 to 89 ct/kWh.

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