Increased Use of Public Electric Charging Stations

According to the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH), users charged almost 130% more energy into vehicles at public electric charging stations in the first quarter of this year than in the first three months of 2021, and the number of charging stations increased by 29% in a year.

The number of public charging stations operating under a licensed activity in Hungary increased to 1,912 by the end of the first quarter of this year, according to a statement from the agency on Tuesday. These charging stations have 3,832 outlets for electric vehicle users in the country.

The number of public chargers increased in all counties compared to the same period last year. In the southeastern Békés County, 83.3% more electric chargers were in operation than a year earlier, 52.1% more in the eastern Hajdú-Bihar County and 46.7% more in Pest County (central Hungary). In terms of the number of units, the biggest increase was in Budapest, where 95 new chargers were installed, followed by Pest County with 79 and Győr-Moson-Sopron County (in the northwest) with 32 new chargers, MEKH said.

The statement also said that the number of cars with green license plates (given to fully or partially electric vehicles) has increased by almost 60% compared to a year ago, according to the Ministry of Interior, with 47,859 green plates and 24,795 pure electric cars registered.

The number of charges and the amount of energy used for charging also increased significantly compared to the previous year. In the first quarter, motorists charged 4,207 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity at public electric charging stations, up nearly 130% from the same quarter in 2021 and 11.6% more than the previous quarter. The number of charges increased from 159,041 to 375,625 in one year.

61.8% of the energy consumed at public charging stations was used in Budapest and Pest County.