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Blog30 October 2026JOLT Redaktion

How reliable are public charging stations? Uptime, remote maintenance and faults explained

How reliable are public charging stations, really? This guide shows you how charging station availability in Germany stands today, why uptime figures are often difficult to compare, how operators intervene remotely, and what you can do when a charging station is out of service.

Das Bild zeigt ein Paar im Gespräch neben einem Elektroauto, das an einer JOLT-Ladestation in einer regnerischen Hafenstadt aufgeladen wird.

Charging station availability: How reliably does the network work today?

There is hardly a shortage of infrastructure expansion anymore. According to figures from the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), there were around 200,830 public charging points in Germany in January 2026, an increase of more than 22% compared with the previous year. Almost one in five of them offers charging at 150 kW or more. At the same time, only 12% of charging points were occupied simultaneously on average in 2025.

According to ADAC, industry insiders put the success rate for DC charging at around 90%. In other words, problems occur in only about one in ten charging sessions. Some of these are caused by technical issues with the charging station, while a similarly large share is due to user errors, often involving authentication and payment. However, many problems can also be resolved remotely. More on that later.

Charging station uptime: What the metric measures and what it does not

Uptime, or technical availability, describes the period during which a charging point is fundamentally operational. That sounds straightforward, but it is not. As Lorenz Schagemann of Mer Germany explains in a guest article for firmenauto, operators calculate the metric differently:

  • OCPP statuses such as “Unavailable” are included in calculations differently depending on the operator.
  • Some measure at the level of individual charging points, while others measure entire locations.
  • The time periods, power levels and segments considered also vary.

Fairly comparing the uptime of charging stations operated by different providers is therefore more difficult than it sounds. What is more, a charging point can formally be considered available while the charging session still fails, for example if the connection or authorization process does not work.

Faults: the most common causes

If a charging station displays a fault, there is rarely just one component to blame. A successful charging session depends on the interaction between hardware, connectivity, the backend system, authorization and operational processes. Typical causes include:

  • Wear on the connector: A fast-charging connector is plugged in thousands of times over the years, carries high currents and is exposed to rain, frost and heat. At some point, it has to be replaced.
  • Communication between the car and the charger: According to ADAC, DC charging involves currents 20 to 30 times higher than those used in a household. The car and charging station therefore negotiate locking, voltage and current levels in advance. If something does not match, the charging session is aborted.
  • Authentication and payment: If the charging card is not recognized or card payment fails, no electricity will flow. Our guide How do I pay at a charging station? explains which payment methods are available.
  • Mobile connection and backend: If the connection to the operator’s system is interrupted, the charging session often cannot be authorized.
  • Grid connection: The electricity supply is also one of the factors that operators do not have entirely under their own control.

Remote charging station maintenance: How operators resolve faults remotely

Now for the good news: Many faults can be resolved without anyone having to arrive with a toolbox. This is made possible primarily by the Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP). The open standard developed by the Open Charge Alliance governs how a charging station communicates with the operator’s management system. Via OCPP, an operator can, among other things:

  • Regularly check whether the station is online using a heartbeat signal
  • Identify fault conditions using standardized error codes
  • Restart the station or individual charging points remotely
  • Install firmware updates
  • Retrieve diagnostic logs
  • Deliberately mark a charging point as unavailable

Remote maintenance of charging stations saves time and money: Operators that diagnose problems remotely and trigger resets from a distance can avoid many unnecessary technician callouts. However, even the best remote maintenance has its limits. According to ADAC, operators cannot detect a damaged connector remotely and usually only become aware of it when charging failures begin to accumulate.

This is where you can help: Reporting the problem to the hotline helps the operator and everyone who wants to charge after you!

Why your app knows the status: AFIR

Since April 14, 2025, Article 20 of the EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) has required operators of publicly accessible charging points to provide static and dynamic data free of charge and without discrimination. In Germany, this data is made available via the Mobilithek platform of the Federal Ministry of Transport. Dynamic data includes, among other things, the operating status — such as operational or out of service — availability and the ad hoc price. Dynamic data must be updated within one minute. Since April 14, 2026, the standardized DATEX II format has been mandatory for this purpose.

All charging apps and navigation services that display the status of a charging point benefit from this.

Charging station out of service: What you can do on site

If the charging station reports a fault or the charging session does not start, you do not necessarily have to drive away immediately. We recommend a series of simple steps:

  1. Check the status in advance: Use the app to check whether the charging point is shown as available and operational.
  2. Inspect the connector: If the connector appears damaged, choose another charging point and report the issue to the hotline.
  3. Use the correct card reader: Many fast chargers have two card readers — one for the charging card (RFID) and one for bank or credit cards.
  4. Switch off drive-ready mode: With some manufacturers, charging only starts once the car has been switched off.
  5. Support the connector: Hold the connector firmly until you hear the lock engage. This usually takes less than ten seconds.
  6. Authorize promptly: The charger and vehicle generally abort the connection process after around 60 seconds.
  7. Restart: Disconnect the car from the charger, wait 15 to 30 seconds and try again. If there is no actual hardware defect, it usually works on the second attempt. If not, switch to another charging point.
  8. Report the fault: Make a note of the charging point ID and contact the operator’s hotline. They can also help if the cable cannot be unlocked.

One final safety note: ADAC warns about fake QR code stickers on charging stations that scammers use to obtain sensitive data (“quishing”). Always use the official app or the card terminal. If your battery is running low, our tips on emergency charging while on the road can help.

How JOLT approaches reliability

JOLT brings ultra-fast charging to the places where you are already on the move: right in the city. Our charging stations with integrated battery storage deliver up to 320 kW of charging power, enough for around 200 km of range in approximately 10 minutes. The battery storage enables ultra-fast charging without expensive grid expansion. And our stations are available to you 24/7.

Transparency is one of our core values. JOLT CEO Jörg Lohr therefore advocates clear and standardized quality criteria such as uptime, for example so that private operators have the same opportunities as municipal utilities when public spaces are awarded.

If something does go wrong, you will find the phone number for our customer service team on every JOLT charger. According to the company, the service is available around the clock. The JOLT app shows available charging points in real time.

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Frequently asked questions about charging station reliability

Charging station availability: Are there enough charging points in Germany?

According to BDEW, there were around 200,830 public charging points in January 2026, and only 12% of them were occupied simultaneously on average in 2025. So the number of charging points is rarely the issue. What matters is whether the charging point works when you arrive.

What does uptime mean for charging stations?

Uptime describes the proportion of time during which a charging point is technically operational. More relevant to you is the charging success rate, meaning the proportion of successful charging sessions.

What should I do if a charging station is out of service?

Restart the charging session after 15 to 30 seconds, switch charging points if necessary, and report the fault to the operator’s hotline using the charging point ID.

How does remote maintenance of a charging station work?

Using the OCPP communication protocol, the operator monitors its stations, restarts them when necessary, installs updates and retrieves diagnostic data. However, mechanical damage such as a defective connector cannot be repaired remotely.

Sources

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