Operation of charging stations in Czechia rises by tens of percent, with more than 3,000 stations now operating

The use of public charging stations in Czechia continues to grow this year. After the first three quarters of the year, operators of the largest networks are reporting increases in electricity consumption of several tens of percent, while the number of charging sessions is also rising. Construction of new stations is continuing as well, with more than 3,000 now operating in Czechia. This follows from current information provided by operators to ČTK. Despite the rapid growth in usage, Czechia still lags behind Western and Northern European countries in terms of electric vehicle penetration.

According to station operators, recent months have confirmed the growing number of electric cars in the Czech vehicle fleet. In September, their number on Czech roads exceeded 52,000, and it can be assumed that it will approach 60,000 by the end of the year. "This is naturally reflected positively in the use of public charging infrastructure," said Libor Hladík, head of the E-mobility section at Prague Energy (PRE).

According to statistics from the Transport Research Centre (CDV), electric vehicles currently account for 5.6 percent of the Czech market for new passenger cars, compared with around 4.2 percent last year. "However, growth does not concern only new vehicles – from January to September, 6,179 used electric vehicles were also imported into Czechia," said Lukáš Kadula of CDV.

This is also evident at charging stations across the country. Average total monthly consumption in PRE's charging network rose by nearly 46 percent year on year in the third quarter. The number of charging sessions also increased by almost 40 percent to more than 45,000, most often at ultra-fast charging stations. Total consumption for the first nine months thus reached 7.61 gigawatt-hours, which PRE said was more than for the whole of last year. By the end of this year, PRE aims to operate a total of 900 stations.

ČEZ is also continuing to expand its charging network and aims to have more than 1,000 charging points in its network by the end of the year. It currently operates around 950. Total capacity is expected to increase from the current 90 MW to more than 100 MW. Consumption at ČEZ stations reached 9.7 gigawatt-hours in the first three quarters of the year, more than 67 percent higher than a year earlier. For the full year, the company expects consumption of up to 13 GWh.

E.ON is also reporting a record year. Drivers in its network drew almost 5.03 GWh of electricity in the first three quarters of the year, a volume 40 percent higher than in the whole of last year. The company recorded a total of 215,000 charging sessions.

According to transport experts, the density of charging infrastructure in Czechia is currently sufficient relative to the number of registered electric cars, but in Europe it ranks around average in terms of the number of stations. It lags particularly behind some countries in Western and Northern Europe. Norway and the Netherlands are among Europe's leaders in electric mobility.