Longer drives require a network of public charging stations. In addition, they are essential for vehicles that lack access to a home charging station, as is common in multi-family housing. Costs vary greatly by country, power supplier, and power source. Some services charge by the minute, while others charge by the amount of energy received (measured in kilowatt-hours). In the United States, some states have banned the use of charging by kWh. Charging stations may not need much new infrastructure in developed countries, less than delivering a new fuel over a new network. The stations can leverage the existing ubiquitous
electrical grid. Charging stations are offered by public authorities, commercial enterprises, and some major employers to address a range of barriers. Options include simple charging posts for roadside use, charging cabinets for covered parking places, and fully automated charging stations integrated with power distribution equipment. , around 50,000 non-residential charging points were deployed in the US, Europe, Japan and China. , some 3,869 CHAdeMO quick chargers were deployed, with 1,978 in Japan, 1,181 in Europe and 686 in the United States, and 24 in other countries. As of December 2021 the total number of public and private EV charging stations was over 57,000 in the United States and Canada combined. As of May 2023, there are over 3.9 million public EV charging points worldwide, with Europe having over 600,000, China leading with over 2.7 million. United States has over 138,100 charging outlets for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs). In January 2023, S&P Global Mobility estimated that the US has about 126,500 Level 2 and 20,431 Level 3 charging stations, plus another 16,822 Tesla Superchargers and Tesla destination chargers.
Asia/Pacific , China's total number of charging stations have reached 10.6 million, which includes 3.2 million public units and 7.4 million private units, with over 55% being DC charging stations according to
CCTV News, making China the country with the largest and most diverse vehicle charging network in the world. This follows the 17,000 public charging stations that existed in 2012, mostly built by the
State Grid of
China as a
pilot program in major cities such as
Beijing,
Shanghai,
Hangzhou,
Shenzhen and
Hefei. , Japan had 1,381 public DC fast-charging stations, the largest deployment of fast chargers in the world, but only around 300 AC chargers. By 2024, the public charging network in Perth had grown to over 209 chargers while nationally there are over 5000 chargers across Australia as of 2026. In India, public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations are commonly located street-side and at retail shopping centers, government facilities, and other parking areas. Private charging stations are typically found at residences, workplaces, and hotels. File:Electric vehicle charging at Haidian theater 20160522.jpg|Charging park in Beijing (2016) File:EV charging station, Seogwipo, Jeju Island, South Korea (51645091087).jpg| EV charging station,
Seogwipo,
Jeju Island, South Korea (2021) File:BetterPlaceEVsCharging.JPG|Prototype modified
Renault Laguna EVs charging at Project
Better Place charging stations in
Ramat Hasharon, Israel, north of
Tel Aviv (2010)
Europe As of December 2013, Estonia was the only country that had completed the deployment of an
EV charging network with nationwide coverage, with 165 fast chargers available along highways at a maximum distance of between , and a higher density in urban areas. File:Laddstation_Smålandsstenar.jpg|Swedish charging station with 400
kW fast chargers (2024) File:Seed & Greet Ladepark Kreuz-Hilden.jpg|Public charging park in Germany (2020) File:Reading Westbound Services High Power Gridserve EVSEs (Feb 2023).jpg|Electric-vehicle charging station near London (2023) File:EVolt Tri-Rapid Compact Charger and eVolt Standard Post.jpg|eVolt Tri-Rapid Compact Charger (left) and eVolt Standard Post charger with Type 1 and Type 2 ports in a car park in
Arbroath, Scotland (2017) File:Moscow, Dubininskaya 98 charging station June 2024 02 (DXO).jpg|Car charging point in Moscow (2024) File:Aral Pulse Ladestationen.jpg|Aral Pulse charging stations in front of a
Aral-branded
BP gas station in
Braunschweig, Germany (2021) File:Laddstation - Charging station - Ystad-2025.jpg|Charging station in
Ystad 2025, each station with a capacity of 400 kW and space for two cars. As of November 2012, about 15,000 charging stations had been installed in Europe. As of March 2013, Norway had 4,029 charging points and 127 DC fast-charging stations. As part of its commitment to environmental sustainability, the Dutch government initiated a plan to establish over 200 fast (
DC) charging stations across the country by 2015. The rollout will be undertaken by
ABB and Dutch startup
Fastned, aiming to provide at least one station every for the Netherlands' 16 million residents. In addition to that, the E-laad foundation installed about 3000 public (slow) charge points since 2009. Compared to other markets, such as China, the European electric car market has developed slowly. This, together with the lack of charging stations, has reduced the number of electric models available in Europe. In 2018 and 2019 the
European Investment Bank (EIB) signed several projects with companies like Allego, Greenway, BeCharge and Enel X. The EIB loans will support the deployment of the charging station infrastructure with a total of €200 million.
North America , 800,000 electric vehicles and 18,000 charging stations operated in the United States, up from 5,678 public charging stations and 16,256 public charging points in 2013. By July 2020, Tesla had installed 1,971 stations (17,467 plugs). As of October 2023, in the US and Canada, there are 6,502 stations with
CHAdeMO connectors, 7,480 stations with SAE
CCS1 connectors, and 7,171 stations with Tesla
North American Charging System (NACS) connectors, according to the US Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center. , there are 78,444 EV charging stations with 241,301 chargers across the United States. Colder areas in northern US states and Canada have some public power receptacles, primarily for use by
block heaters. Although their
circuit breakers prevent large current draws for other uses, they can be used to recharge electric vehicles, albeit slowly. In public lots, some such outlets are turned on only when the temperature falls below , thus limiting their use for charging EVs. In June 2022, United States
President Biden announced a plan for a standardized nationwide network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030 that will be agnostic to EV brands, charging companies, or location, in the United States. The US will provide US$5 billion between 2022 and 2026 to states through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program to build charging stations along major highways and corridors. One such proposed corridor called
Greenlane plans to establish charging infrastructure between Los Angeles, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. In April 2025, the flagship charging station was operational in
Colton, California, with further locations in Barstow and Baker, under development. In July 2023, automakers General Motors, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, and Stellantis announced they were building a North American network of fast-chargers. Toyota would later join, and the venture was named
Ionna. As of late 2023, a limited number of Tesla Superchargers started to open to non-Tesla vehicles through the use of a built in CCS adapter for existing superchargers. Other charging networks available for all electric vehicles include
Electrify America,
EVgo, and
ChargePoint. In October 2023, Electrify America announced 15 agreements with various automakers for their electric vehicles to use its network of chargers.
Africa Electric Wireless car charger in
Johannesburg, South Africa (2021)
South Africa South Africa has a small, but expanding network of charging stations, and a
growing number of EVs and PHEVs on the road. There is no direct government infrastructure spending on EV charging, and SA therefore has a patchwork of private charging sites. Investment in infrastructure is increasing. There are already proof of concept high-capacity DC chargers installed at various sites across SA, including the three 400 kW chargers at Zero Carbon Charge's
N12 North West facility, the 200 kW station at the
Mall of Africa in
Midrand, and the 150 kW one at
Canal Walk in
Cape Town. The cost of installing a charging station is estimated to be between R500,0000 and R2 million. To reach profitability, SA will need around 100,000 EVs on the road. As of 2025, there are around 3,500 new EVs sold per year in South Africa. Sales are expected to grow steadily, as new models are introduced into the market. At the same time, the industry was estimated to already be worth R2.8 billion. the National Automobile Association of South Africa,
South America In April 2017
YPF, the state-owned oil company of
Argentina, reported that it will install 220 fast-load stations for electric vehicles in 110 of its service stations in the national territory.
Projects Electric car manufacturers, charging infrastructure providers, and regional governments have entered into agreements and ventures to promote and provide
electric vehicle networks of public charging stations. The
EV Plug Alliance is an association of 21 European manufacturers that proposed an
IEC norm and a European standard for sockets and plugs. Members (
Schneider Electric, Legrand, Scame, Nexans, etc.) claimed that the system was safer because they use shutters. Prior consensus was that the IEC 62196 and IEC 61851-1 standards have already established safety by making parts non-live when touchable. == Home chargers ==