Charging infrastructure

Charging infrastructure is the network of charging points for electric vehicles together with the contracts and permits that go with it. Three strands of law meet here: energy law, planning law and consumer law.

Legal basis

Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure has imposed directly applicable requirements since 2024: new fast-charging points must allow ad hoc payment by card, prices must be clear in advance per kilowatt hour and must not be unreasonable. Connection of a charging point falls under the Energy Act, with the same rules on connection and transport as for any other connected party, including the queue where there is congestion. Siting in public space requires a traffic decision or an environmental permit, which interested parties can challenge. In apartment buildings the law on apartment rights applies: a charging point in a shared garage requires the owners’ association’s consent, and the case law is reluctant to allow refusal without good reason. Building rules require charging points or ducting for new build and major renovation of buildings with parking.

How it works in practice

On business sites connection capacity is the bottleneck: fast charging demands power that is not readily available in congestion areas. A time-bound transport contract or load management can offer a way through. Where charging points on private land are made available to third parties, a further question arises: whether the operator is acting as a supplier, which affects the licensing requirement.

Where it goes wrong

Operators sign contracts without first testing grid capacity and cannot deliver what was promised. A second error is a pricing structure that does not meet the transparency requirements. Third, work proceeds in an apartment building without a resolution of the owners’ association, leading to removal.