Romania’s EV charging network expands rapidly, but utilization remains low

Romania surpassed 10,000 public charging points for electric vehicles in August 2026, while the number of ultra-fast charging stations, with a capacity of at least 150 kW, has increased more than 45-fold over the past four years, reaching more than 2,060. However, the average utilization rate of charging stations is only 4-5%, according to the EV Charging Index 2026 – Currents of Change study conducted by Roland Berger in 34 countries.

Romania’s charging infrastructure has grown more than sixfold over the past five years, and over the past three years it has expanded 1.4 times faster than the electric vehicle fleet.

The fastest development has occurred in the ultra-fast charging station segment, with capacities of at least 150 kW. Their number increased from just 45 in 2022 to just over 2,060 in August 2026.

During the same period, Romania reached 2,585 fast charging points, with capacities between 50 kW and 150 kW, and 5,420 points with capacities below 50 kW.

The expansion of the network has been supported by both investments from private operators and European funding through the PNRR, the Modernization Fund and the Connecting Europe Facility.

Currently, Romania has approximately 13 electrified vehicles for every public charging point, compared with a European average of 14 vehicles per point. At the same time, however, the average utilization rate of public charging stations is only around 4-5%. Roland Berger considers that this level of utilization indicates the existence of available capacity that can support the future growth in the number of electric vehicles without proportional additional investment in the short term.

“Although electric vehicle adoption remains below the level of Western European countries, infrastructure progress and the entry of new manufacturers into the market create favorable conditions for the sector’s continued development in the coming years,” said Szabolcs Nemes, Managing Partner at Roland Berger Romania.

Alongside the expansion of infrastructure, the market for 100% electric passenger cars returned to growth in 2026. In the first eight months of the year, 7,067 new BEV passenger cars were registered, 51% more than the 4,678 units in the same period last year. Their share of total new passenger car registrations increased from 4.9% to 8.2%.

However, the market is still below the record level of 2023, when 15,318 new electric passenger cars were registered, with an adoption rate of 10.4%.

An important part of the market comes from the used electric vehicle segment. Registrations of used BEVs increased from 398 units in 2021 to 4,342 in 2025, and in the first eight months of 2026 they exceeded 4,100 units, 55% above the level recorded in the same period of the previous year.