Why does charging involve so many companies?

Three things spread the work: the grid connection, the location where people park, and contracts that work across many networks. One company can hold several roles, but the roles stay separate.

Explained in

EV charging fundamentals · Stop 01Why does charging feel more complicated than refuelling?A driver taps a card and charging starts two seconds later. Behind that tap, several companies work together. Why public charging is organised this way.
  • The grid. Electricity arrives through the public grid. Every site needs a connection that the grid operator plans and approves, and its capacity sets what the site can deliver.
  • The location. A session takes about 20 minutes at a fast charger and several hours at an AC charger. Chargers stand where people park anyway, so the owner of that place becomes a partner.
  • The contract. Most drivers use one app or card across many networks. For that, operators and card providers exchange approvals, prices and session records in real time. Drivers without a contract can pay ad hoc at every public charger; those built since April 2024 must accept electronic payment, at fast chargers by card.
From “Three reasons the work is shared”, stop 01

Terms

  1. Ad hocCharging without a contract, paid directly at the charger, for example by card or QR code.
  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. Who is the CPO and who is the eMSP?The CPO operates the charger and keeps it available. The eMSP issues the card or app, sets the driver's price and sends the invoice. They are often two different companies.
  3. How many companies operate public chargers?Around 15,500 companies operate public charge points in the directory data. A small number of large networks run most of them, while almost 13,000 run fewer than ten each.
  4. Who connects a charging site to the grid?The grid operator, usually the local distribution system operator. It plans and approves the connection, and its capacity sets what the site can deliver.
  1. EVRoaming Foundation: Open Charge Point Interface (OCPI). https://evroaming.org/. Checked 07 Oct 2026.
  2. EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure (AFIR), Article 5. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1804/oj. Checked 07 Oct 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.