The Federal Cartel Office criticizes the lack of competition in charging stations for electric vehicles. The municipalities themselves bear responsibility for the dominant market positions of individual providers.
According to the Federal Cartel Office’s assessment, there is no well-functioning competition among providers of charging stations for electric cars in many municipalities. In many places, “market dominant positions” of individual providers have emerged, explained Cartel Office chief Andreas Mundt.
In its sector investigation, the Bonn authority comes to the conclusion that this situation could have been avoided. But “numerous cities and municipalities have allocated suitable public areas for charging stations predominantly or even exclusively to their own municipal utility or individual providers,” said Mundt. As a result, consumers would have little choice. The risk of higher prices increases because powerful providers do not have to fear competition.
Intervention only in individual cases
However, the competition authority sees no reason to intervene broadly under antitrust law: “Antitrust intervention can only be examined on a case-by-case basis,” explained Mundt. Competition could be improved across the board through stricter legal requirements.
The allocation of public land should be temporary and carried out in a transparent and non-discriminatory process. State funding would also have to be awarded in a non-discriminatory manner. The report cites the awarding of contracts to unmanaged rest areas along motorways as a positive example. Here the federal government has “significantly improved the conditions for open market access for charging stations by tendering federally owned areas.”
The expansion of the e-charging network plays an important role in the energy transition. According to the electricity lobby association BDEW, 16,063 public charging points were added in the first six months of this year. The total number of charging points in Germany has risen to 134,226. However, demand for electric cars is weakening.