Empirical insights on usage trends and patterns of public fast-charging stations in Germany

Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) are the most likely solution for the rapid and effective decarbonization of road transport to limit global warming. Yet, their continued adoption critically depends on the availability and usage of charging infrastructure, with inadequate coverage consistently cited as one key barrier. This study analyzes usage patterns of over N=7,500 public fast-charging stations in Germany over a two-year period, with an emphasis on utilization metrics, usage intensity, and charging patterns through data visualizations and statistical methods. The analysis confirms distinct day-night and weekday-weekend usage
patterns and reveals slightly increasing utilization over time. Moreover, the study highlights how the ratio of energetic to temporal utilization differs across power classes, from one-to-five to one-to-two, and finds that station performance is more closely linked to the frequency of charging events than to rated power, charging duration, or charged energy per event. These empirical insights offer valuable guidance for optimizing the expansion and operation of a comprehensive and functional fast-charging network.