Europe’s public charging infrastructure is growing more slowly but becoming more powerful, according to GridX’s 2026 Charging Report.

The report shows a shift, as EV infrastructure evolves toward higher-power, faster charging solutions

The new report from GridX, one of Europe’s leading energy management system (EMS) providers, highlights a pivotal shift in Europe’s EV landscape, as public charging infrastructure evolves from rapid expansion toward higher-power, faster charging solutions. It also reveals the markets at the forefront of charging expansion.

The report focuses primarily on public EV charging but also includes findings on home charging, compiling data from the 27 member states of the EU as well as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland and the UK.

The study uncovers a drop in the growth rate of new registrations for all-electric passenger cars and a reduced expansion of public charge points compared to 2024.

More than 11 million all-electric passenger cars (BEVs) were registered in Europe last year, up 27.7% on 2024 and accounting for 11.3% of all registered passenger cars.

The number of available BEV models increased to 463 (2024: 400), with an average range of 390.3km (2024: 389.2km) and an average starting price that fell by approximately €2,800  (£2,439) to around €65,100 (£56,705).

The number of public charge points in the 32 focus countries covered by the report stood at 1,215,706 in 2025, representing a near five-fold increase over five years (2020: 251,356) and a 19.1% increase compared to the previous year (2024: 1,020,499); in 2024, year-on-year growth stood still at 36.8%. The number of charge points per 1,000 inhabitants nearly doubled compared to 2024, reaching 3.9 (2024: 2.0/1,000).

The report also shows that average capacity per charge point has reached a new high, and direct current charge points and so-called ultra-fast chargers with a charging power of 150kW or more are gaining popularity.

Throughout 2025, Europe’s 38.5% growth rate of public direct current (DC) charge points was more than double that of alternating current (AC) charge points (15.3%). At the same time, the share of ultra-fast chargers rose from 9.8% in 2024 to an average of 11.8%. Both trends point to a shift in public charging infrastructure toward high-performance infrastructure, where charge point operators (CPOs) prioritise charge point power over quantity.

Regulatory requirements ‘clearly shaping’ UK charging infrastructure

The report took a closer look at the UK’s charging infrastructure and revealed that for 2025, the report notes, the UK had the fourth highest number of public charge points and ranked third in terms of number of installed ultra-fast chargers.

The share of BEVs in the UK’s total passenger vehicle fleet has grown steadily over the past five years (2025: 5.3%, 2020: 0.6%), while the share of BEVs in all new registrations amounted to 23.4% in 2025, having sat at just after 6.6% in 2020. The BEV with the most registrations was Tesla Model Y (2024: Audi Q4 e-tron).

The report splits charge points into four different power classes based on kilowatts (kW): slow chargers (≤7,4 kW), average chargers (7,4 kW – ≤22 kW), fast chargers (22 kW – ≤150 kW), and ultra-fast chargers (≥150 kW). The share of ultra-fast chargers was the only to increase year after year since 2021 (2025: 11.8%, 2024: 9.4%, 2023: 6.3%, 2022: 2.9%, 2021: 2.6 %, 2020: 3.1%). This was also reflected in the UK’s third-place ranking third in number of installed ultra-fast chargers (12,246) after Germany (38,138) and France (22,858).

Per capita: The Netherlands leads in charge points, Iceland in capacity

In 2025, across all 32 focus countries, the Netherlands had the highest number of public charge points (202,833, +214.7% compared to 2020), ahead of Germany (200,830, +387.5% compared to 2020), France (186,717, +397.9% compared to 2020) and the UK (103,580, +360.3% compared to 2020).

With 11.0 charge points per 1,000 residents, the Netherlands also recorded the highest charge point density, ahead of Denmark and Belgium (8.4 per 1,000 each). In the Netherlands, the share of ultra-fast chargers across all power classes increased most significantly, too (2025: +2.6%, 2020: +1.3%); however, average chargers continued to account for the largest share (2025: 95.0%, 2020: 93.0%).

Norway led in two respects in 2025: first, in the rate of newly registered BEVs per capita (178.4 per 1,000 residents), and second, in the share of BEVs among all registered passenger cars (24.0%). In terms of public charging capacity per 100 residents, Iceland led with 57.8 kW, just ahead of Norway with 52.7 kW.

Highest growth rates for new BEV registrations and DC charge points in Eastern Europe

At 82.0%, the Czech Republic recorded the highest year-on-year growth in new BEV registrations in 2025, ahead of Estonia (+75.9%) and Belgium (+74.3%). Several Eastern European countries also confirmed the rising popularity of DC charge points. The three highest growth rates in Europe in 2025 were recorded in Latvia (+142.8%), Estonia (+122.9%), and Poland (+103.7%).

Charge point operators view energy management as decisive for success

The study also shows that smart charging solutions are the new strategic currency for charge point operators, enabling the circumvention of grid bottlenecks through virtual grid expansion and explicit flexibility services.

A survey of four CPOs from the GridX partner network operating across Europe revealed that they view securing sufficient local grid capacity as the biggest challenge in expanding public charging infrastructure.

They named an EMS platform such as GridX’s Xenon as an essential tool for success. They unanimously expected flexibility to become a significant business driver by 2030 and cited cost-efficiency and additional revenues as the main drivers guiding a flexibility product portfolio. Three of the four surveyed CPOs identified flexibility forecasting, aggregation, and disaggregation as the most complex aspects.

They also unanimously stated that, in addition to a smart EMS, they intend to add battery storage to their charging stations by 2030. In the short term, battery storage counteracts the high costs of grid connection expansion and helps significantly reduce grid fees; in the long term, it forms the basis for flexibility marketing and the associated new revenue streams.

Anne Bicking, CEO of GridX, said the market is moving from infrastructure expansion to intelligent connectivity and flexibility.

“What sets energy and e-mobility players apart now is not scale alone but how intelligently that scale is managed and monetised. The next phase of EV adoption will be defined by how effectively distributed assets are turned into coordinated, flexible systems.”

The executive summary from GridX’s 2026 Charging Report is online here.