How far apart are fast chargers on EU motorways?

Along the TEN-T core network, AFIR requires a charging pool at least every 60 km in each direction: 400 kW by the end of 2025, 600 kW by the end of 2027.

Explained in

Charging infrastructure · Stop 01How is a site chosen?Traffic, length of stay, grid capacity and a willing site host: what makes a location work for charging, and what EU law expects along the motorways.

AFIR obliges Member States to ensure a minimum: pools every 60 km along the core network, and public power that grows with the number of electric cars. Where exactly a hub stands is decided by the companies that build and run it, guided by traffic, grid and land.

From “Targets are a floor, not a plan”, stop 01

Terms

  1. AFIRAlternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (EU) 2023/1804: EU rules for public charging, from payment to coverage.
  2. Charging poolAFIR's term for one or more charging stations at a specific location, counted together for the targets along the main roads.
  3. TEN-TThe trans-European transport network, the EU's main roads and corridors, divided into a core and a comprehensive network; AFIR sets charging targets along it.
  1. How many public charge points are there in Europe?More than 1.1 million in the EU alone: the European Alternative Fuels Observatory counted 1,159,838 public recharging points in August 2026. The map on this site covers part of the network: 839,000 public charge points at 227,000 sites across Europe, from national registries and OpenChargeMap.
  2. Why does a charging hub need its own transformer?Large hubs connect at medium voltage, in Germany 10 to 30 kV, above the 400-volt street grid. The transformer that steps the voltage down for the chargers then becomes part of the site.
  3. What does it take to build a charging hub?A site host, a grid connection, an energy supply contract, a building permit and backend and roaming partners. Most steps depend on each other, so the developer in this path starts the grid connection first.
  4. What is utilisation of a charger?The energy a charger delivers compared with what it could deliver at full power all year. Because most costs are fixed, it decides whether a site pays back.
  1. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 (AFIR), Articles 3, 5 and 20 and recital 38. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1804/oj. Checked 09 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.