City enables demand-driven expansion of public charging stations for electric cars
06.03.2023 – In order to promote cleaner, quieter and climate-friendly transportation, the city is enabling public charging points for electric cars throughout the city. To this end, the city council has launched a directive that regulates the release of suitable areas by the city. The directive was approved by the city council on February 22.
Mayor and Head of Mobility explains: "The sales figures for electric cars are rising and with them the demand for charging infrastructure. While the number of new registrations of electric cars nationwide was still 25,056 in 2017 and 63,281 in 2019, this figure was already 335,961 in 2021. A further increase is to be expected," says Groß. "This will also make the development of charging infrastructure economically attractive. With the directive, we are creating the conditions for private providers to set up public charging points in public spaces. In concrete terms, this means that public parking spaces will be made available for this purpose." Groß continues: "The new directive precisely regulates the scheme for releasing public spaces. To put it simply, Offenbach's urban area will be divided into a total of 40 sub-areas, for which the respective charging requirements up to 2025 and 2030 have been determined in advance. Once the guideline has been published, interested operators can apply for one or more locations in the 40 sub-areas within a three-month application period."
The specific locations within the sub-areas are examined by an interdisciplinary working group with regard to all criteria and then approved. If several providers apply for the same sub-area, a decision is made by drawing lots. Once the review process has been completed, the operators can be sure that no other operator will be granted a special use permit for their charging station by the city in their sub-area. This is subject to the condition that the operators comply with the city's forecast or an actual increase in charging demand within 6 months and thus actually install charging points. If this does not happen, other operators will be given the opportunity to install charging points in this sub-area.
Several departments of the city administration worked together on the guideline with the involvement of an external office. All requirements associated with the installation of charging points at different locations were defined. These include the availability of electricity, good visibility and accessibility, flood safety and future urban planning and development. Not all conceivable locations are therefore suitable for charging points. Furthermore, the guideline regulates, on the basis of economic, planning and legal reasons, the scheme according to which suitable locations are approved by the city so that they can be operated by external operators.
"The procedure we have chosen has the key advantage that it makes careful use of the already scarce public spaces and at the same time meets the demand for charging points. Our Offenbach solution is therefore attractive for both charging station operators and consumers and the city bears no economic risk," concludes Sabine Groß.