Charging an EV without a driveway

You do not need a private driveway to own an EV. You do, however, need reliable access to charging somewhere else. That may be an on-street charger near home, a shared charger at your apartment building, a charging point at work or a public charger somewhere you visit regularly. Rapid charging can fill the occasional gap, but relying on it for every charge may be less convenient and more expensive.

The public network is expanding. According to the International Energy Agency, the number of public charging points in Europe increased by around 20% in 2025. The Netherlands had approximately 210.000, followed by Germany with 196.000 and France with 185.000. Those totals unfortunately do not tell you whether there is a working and affordable charger within walking distance of your home. Therefore it’s wise to study the charging options around the places where your car will spend time anyway, before buying an EV.

First things first: where does your car usually spend most of its time? That may be near your home, at work, in a public car park or outside a supermarket, gym or railway station. Charging is easiest when it overlaps with something you already do: a slower charger outside the office may be more useful (and affordable) than an ultra-fast one fifteen kilometres away.

Chargemap and PlugShare can show the locations, speeds, connectors and sometimes live availability of nearby chargers. Pro tip: check them at the times when you would actually want to charge, rather than only admiring the number of colourful pins on the map. Found a promising charger nearby? Check a few practical details before building your routine around it:

• Is it available to the public?
• Is it within a realistic walk of your home or destination?
• Does it have the right connector?
• How fast can it charge and does that suit the amount of time your car will spend there?
• What does charging cost?
• Is there an additional parking or connection fee?
• Can you leave the car there overnight?
• How often is it occupied or out of service?
• Do you need an app, card or subscription?

Visit the location if possible. A charger that looks convenient on a map may be inside a car park that closes at night, reserved for customers or positioned beside the one supermarket you never visit. One suitable charger is useful, but two or three are reassuring. If your entire ownership plan depends on a single charger always being free and functional, it’s worth rechecking your plan.

Public charging does not automatically mean rapid charging. Slower AC chargers, commonly found on residential streets, at workplaces and in public car parks, work well when the car will remain parked for several hours. They may add enough energy during a working day or overnight to cover several days of normal driving. The car determines how much power it can accept. A vehicle with an 11 kW onboard charger will not charge at 22 kW.

DC rapid chargers deliver power directly to the battery and are useful during long journeys or when you need energy quickly. They often cost more than slower charging, however. Relying on them for every session can turn charging into a separate errand rather than something that happens while the car is already parked. For more detail on charging speeds and planning longer journeys, read our guide to the art of electric vehicle vacationing.

Workplace charging may be the simplest replacement for a private wallbox. Cars parked for most of the working day can gain substantial range from relatively slow chargers. Ask about prices, availability, booking rules and whether company vehicles receive priority.

Shared residential charging is another option. Installing it may require permission from a landlord, building manager or homeowners’ association, but some apartment buildings already have shared chargers or electrical preparation for future installation. Local rules and financial support differ, so investigate before assuming it is impossible. European building rules are also gradually increasing requirements for charging infrastructure in residential and non-residential buildings.

Running a private cable across a public pavement is generally not a safe alternative and may be prohibited unless an approved cable channel or protective system is available. Always check the local rules.

The main disadvantage of living without private charging is often cost rather than range. Home electricity is usually one of the cheapest ways to charge. Public prices vary and parking, connection and idle fees can increase the total further. The same charger may even have different prices depending on the app or card used to access it. Subscriptions can reduce the price per kilowatt-hour, but only make financial sense if you use the network regularly.

Estimate your likely charging costs using your annual mileage, the car’s real-world consumption and the chargers you would actually use. Do not base the calculation on the cheapest public rate in the country if the charger around the corner costs twice as much. Public charging does not automatically make an EV more expensive to run than a petrol car, but it can reduce the financial advantage. This deserves an honest calculation before buying, if cost is an important criterion to you.

There are two main types of provider to understand. Charging-point operators manage the physical chargers. European examples include IONITY, Fastned and Tesla, although access to Tesla Superchargers for other EVs varies by location. Roaming services provide access to chargers from multiple operators through one app or card. Examples include Chargemap, Plugsurfing and Octopus Electroverse.

Roaming is convenient, but the price through an intermediary may differ from the operator’s direct rate. Start with the operators around your home and workplace, then add one broader roaming service for flexibility. There is rarely a need to collect every charging app available in Europe. New European requirements are also making public charging easier to use. The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation includes rules on clear pricing and ad-hoc payment at newly installed public chargers. The days of creating a new account whenever the battery wants lunch are not entirely over, but they should gradually become less common.

Drivers with a private wallbox can plug in whenever the car is parked. Without one, the specifications of the EV deserve slightly more attention. More range creates flexibility and reduces how often you need to charge, but buying the largest available battery is not always the only answer. A larger battery usually adds weight and cost. Reliable charging twice a week may be more valuable than paying for hundreds of kilometres of additional range you rarely use.

Look at the car’s realistic range rather than only the official figure. Cold weather and motorway driving can reduce the distance available, as we explain in our guide to what weather does to an EV’s range.

AC charging speed matters if most of your charging will happen at slower public, residential or workplace chargers. DC speed becomes more important if you expect to rely regularly on short rapid-charging stops. Battery size is only part of the picture: two cars with similar batteries may offer different ranges because one uses energy more efficiently. Connector compatibility matters too, particularly with older used EVs. Make sure the car works with the chargers you plan to use.

These details should be easy to compare in used-EV listings. OLX Group marketplaces such as Standvirtual, Autovit and OTOMOTO can display battery capacity and charging specifications where available. For someone without a driveway, the most useful question may not be how quickly the car can charge under perfect conditions, but how well it works with the charger near home.

Before buying an EV, start with a charging map rather than a car advert: if you know where you will charge, how often and at what cost  (and have an alternative when your preferred spot is occupied) a missing driveway matters considerably less.