Do new buildings need charging points?

Under the recast EPBD, new offices with more than five spaces need a charge point for every two spaces; other new non-residential buildings one in five; new residential buildings pre-cabling for half.

Explained in

Regulations and compliance · Stop 06What must buildings provide for charging?Charge points per parking space, pre-cabling and the right to install a wallbox: what the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive asks of new and renovated buildings.

For a new office building with more than five parking spaces, Member States must ensure at least one recharging point for every two spaces. The company's 40 spaces therefore need at least 20 charge points. The installation must allow the simultaneous and efficient use of these charge points and support, where appropriate and feasible, a load or recharging management system. The charge points must be capable of smart recharging and, where appropriate, bidirectional recharging, using non-proprietary protocols.

From “The office car park”, stop 06

Terms

  1. Bidirectional chargingSmart charging in which the electricity can also flow from the car's battery back to the charging point.
  2. EPBDThe EU directive on the energy performance of buildings; its 2024 recast sets charge points, pre-cabling and a right to install for buildings.
  3. Pre-cablingCabling installed in advance at a parking space, so that a charge point can be added there later.
  4. Smart chargingCharging whose power is adjusted in real time, based on information received electronically, for example from the grid operator or a price signal; EU law calls it smart recharging.
  1. Can my landlord refuse a wallbox?Under the recast EPBD, a request by tenants or co-owners may be refused only on serious and legitimate grounds; the details come through national law.
  2. What does AFIR require from charge point operators?Ad hoc payment, transparent prices shown before charging, digital connection, smart recharging at new points, fixed cables at DC points and open data via national access points.
  3. What does AFIR charge point data look like?AFIR itself lists the data items; common technical requirements for the interface are left to the Commission. The operator in the deep dive publishes an OCPI location record: address, connectors and opening hours as static data, status, the ad hoc tariff and the renewable flag as dynamic data. The deep dive reads one line by line.
  1. EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/1275 on the energy performance of buildings (recast), Article 14. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1275/oj. Checked 13 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
  2. EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/1275 on the energy performance of buildings (recast), Article 14. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1275/oj. Checked 13 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
  3. EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2024/1275 on the energy performance of buildings (recast), Article 14. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1275/oj. Checked 13 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.