A special emblem was introduced to make it easier and safer for motorists. This applies throughout the European Union. Where to find it and what does it really mean.

Which socket is right? There is a large variety of charging plugs for stromers and plug-in hybrids: Type 2 for Europeans, Type 1 for cars from Asia. Then there is the combo plug, the so called CHAdeMO plug (a solution from Japan) and the supercharger Tesla, Pure chaos. Basically, this is no longer a problem – Type 2 has become the standard in Europe. And imported cars are delivered with the appropriate adapter.

The European Union has now cleared some of the past uncertainties. To do this, he introduced a new symbol. This will mark e-cars, power stations and charging cables and should prevent any confusion in the future.

The label will also be offered in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and Turkey.

The new label looks like this

It’s so easy to avoid ambiguity: six vertices and one letter (column on the far right). (source: EU)

A hexagon and one of ten letters in the middle: this label will be found throughout the EU in the future. The label is black on cars and white on charging stations. When the two symbols match, drivers can easily recharge their batteries.

Five different letters each denote slow AC and fast DC charging. The most common types would be “C” (for Type 2 plugs), “K” (up to 500 V) and “L” (up to 920 V for CCS fast charging plugs).

Ten letters indicate the correct charging station: In addition to the symbols for Fast DC Charging (above), there are also five labels for Slow AC Charging. (source: EU)

Charging stations expansion in progress

The number of public charging points is increasing rapidly. The Federal Network Agency counted more than 41,000 charging points across Germany in October 2021. However, there are very few fast charging points.