Analysis of electric vehicle charging station usage and profitability in Germany based on empirical data

This paper provides empirical data and a profitability estimation of public charging infrastructure usage in Germany. Given that, in Germany, there are now 2.5 times as many vehicles per charging station compared with 2017, the system needs to allocate charging points efficiently. To this end, this paper presents representative data on energy consumption, arrival times, occupation, and estimated profitability of 22,200 charging stations in Germany. The observed patterns are translated into compact empirical models that allow working with the results without the burden of the large-scale datasets. Charging happens mainly during the day and on weekdays for AC charging stations, whereas DC fast-charging stations are more popular on the weekend. Fast-chargers service approximately three times as many vehicles per charge point at higher profits because of better margins. For AC chargers, up to 20 kWh of energy are charged in an average charge event, whereas fast-chargers supply approximately 40 kWh. Energy transfer typically terminates after 4 h for AC chargers and 45 min for fast-chargers. The power rates are significantly below the rated station power and rarely exceed 11 kW for AC charging. This paper allows fellow researchers to build simulation and test scenarios using presented data or to verify models.