EV charging requirements for commercial buildings in Europe: EPBD 2027 and national rules by country

In the EU, every existing non-residential building with more than 20 parking spaces must have at least one recharging point for every 10 spaces, or ducting for at least half of the spaces, by 1 January 2027, under article 14 of the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). New and majorly renovated non-residential buildings with more than 5 spaces need one recharging point per 5 spaces, and office buildings one per 2.

Those are EU minimums. What a company actually has to install depends on the national or regional text where the building stands, and the gaps are wide: two charge points in Flanders, one per 40 spaces in Spain, three per 20 in Italy, and no retrofit duty at all in England or most of Switzerland. This guide compares the rules country by country, works through car parks of 25, 60 and 150 spaces, explains who must install (owner or tenant), the penalties and exemptions, and how to comply without oversizing. Most company EVs charge at home overnight, and that part needs no hardware at all: Voltaback measures and reimburses it.

The EU baseline: EPBD article 14 in plain English

The recast EPBD (Directive (EU) 2024/1275) entered into force on 28 May 2024. Member States had until 29 May 2026 to transpose it. Article 14, "Infrastructure for sustainable mobility", sets the minimum charging infrastructure for car parks located inside a building or physically adjacent to it. A shared car park on a business park, owned by someone else, is usually outside its scope. Source: EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2024/1275.

Existing non-residential buildings: the 2027 deadline

For every non-residential building with more than 20 parking spaces, Member States must ensure by 1 January 2027 either:

• at least one recharging point for every 10 parking spaces, or
• ducting for at least 50 % of the spaces, so that recharging points can be added later.

This is the rule that catches most existing offices, factories, warehouses with staff parking, retail parks and hotels. No building work is needed to trigger it: the deadline applies to the building as it stands.

New buildings and major renovations

For new non-residential buildings, and those undergoing a major renovation that includes the car park or the electrical infrastructure, with more than 5 parking spaces:

• at least one recharging point for every 5 spaces;
• for office buildings, at least one recharging point for every 2 spaces;
• pre-cabling for at least 50 % of the spaces and ducting for the rest;
• cabling sized for the simultaneous use of the required points, with load management where technically and economically feasible.

Public buildings, bicycles and smart charging

Three further provisions often go unnoticed:

• Public bodies: buildings owned or occupied by public bodies need pre-cabling for at least 50 % of spaces by 1 January 2033.
• Bicycle parking: new, renovated and existing non-residential buildings in scope also need bicycle spaces equal to at least 15 % of average user capacity or 10 % of total capacity, with room for cargo bikes.
• Smart and bidirectional charging: new recharging points must be capable of smart charging and, where appropriate, bidirectional charging, using non-proprietary, interoperable communication protocols.

Exemptions allowed by the directive

Member States may exempt some building categories, in particular where the cost of the charging and ducting installations is at least 10 % of the total cost of a major renovation, or where the building relies on micro-isolated grids. The directive itself contains no exemption for small companies: where one exists (Germany, Italy, Ireland), it comes from national law.

Terms that decide whether you comply

Most disputes about compliance come down to vocabulary. The directive and the national texts use four terms with precise meanings.

The difference between ducting and pre-cabling is the one that costs money. Ducting is the empty route. Pre-cabling is the finished electrical connection at the bay, where only the wallbox is missing.

Country by country: how the rules are applied

The EPBD sets a floor, but national texts arrived at different times. Several countries already had an earlier rule from the 2018 directive (one charge point in buildings over 20 spaces from 2025), and the 2027 step is being added on top. In July 2026 the European Commission opened infringement procedures against Member States that had not fully notified their transposition of the recast EPBD, so in some countries the 2027 ratio is not yet in national law. Source: Infobuildenergia, EPBD infringement procedure.

Sources: GEIG and BGBl. 2026 I No. 226, IPLO.

More sources: RVO EPBD IV guidance, Vlaanderen, Wallex, Walloon EPB order,

Southern and other countries: BOE, Real Decreto-ley 29/2021, BOE, Real Decreto 450/2022, DM 28 October 2025, Irish Statute Book, S.I. 393/2021, Legilux, RGD of 9 June 2021, GOV.UK Approved Document S.

Details that change the count

• Rounding. In the Netherlands, results that are not whole numbers are rounded up: 25 spaces at 1 per 10 means 3 points, not 2.
• Rapid chargers. In Brussels, a charger of 50 kW or more counts as 5 points and one of 150 kW or more as 10. Germany lets owners of publicly accessible car parks meet the 2027 rule with a minimum total power instead (1.1 kW per space). Neither shortcut applies to a staff-only car park behind a barrier in Germany.
• Accessible spaces. Germany applies the 50 % ducting option separately to accessible and other spaces. Some countries expect one point on an accessible bay; check the national text rather than assuming.
• Portfolio option. Under GEIG, an owner of several non-residential buildings may group the required charge points on one or more sites, provided the planning covers all the buildings concerned.
• Covered car parks. Fire safety rules can limit charger locations more than the charging obligation itself. Brussels requires automatic fire detection and power cut-off in covered car parks, and bans rapid chargers there without a permit derogation.

The UK and Switzerland: outside the EPBD

The UK left the EU before the recast EPBD and Switzerland was never bound by it, so their rules differ in kind, not only in ratios.

In England, Part S of the Building Regulations, explained in Approved Document S, has applied since June 2022 to new buildings, major renovations and mixed-use buildings. A new non-residential building with more than 10 spaces needs one charge point plus cable routes for one in five spaces. There is no retrofit duty for an existing workplace car park where no building work is done. Scotland and Wales have their own building standards.

Private workplace charge points sold in Great Britain must also meet the Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 (smart functions, default off-peak settings, randomised delay). Source: GOV.UK smart charge point regulations. UK readers will find the full detail in our UK edition.

In Switzerland, there is no federal obligation. Cantons decide, mostly for new buildings and deep renovations, and usually require "charge-ready" infrastructure (SIA 2060 levels) rather than working charge points. Bern, Neuchâtel and Schaffhausen, for example, require 20 % of spaces in new non-residential buildings to be equipped to a ready-to-charge level.

Worked examples: 25, 60 and 150 spaces

Take an existing office building with no building work planned. Here is the minimum each regime requires, before and after the EPBD 2027 step.

Two conclusions stand out. First, in most countries the current minimum is light, and the 2027 EPBD step is the real change for large car parks: 150 spaces goes from 1 or 2 points to 15, or to ducting for half the car park. Second, Brussels and Italy are already stricter than the EU floor for office car parks, and Brussels keeps rising until 2035.

The ducting option deserves a real comparison. For 150 spaces, 15 working points may cost in the order of €30,000 to €60,000 installed, plus supervision and maintenance. Ducting for 75 spaces is often cheaper if the car park is being resurfaced anyway, but delivers no charging at all. The right choice depends on how many vehicles will actually charge on site, which is the subject of the last section.

Owner or tenant: who must install?

The EPBD obligations attach to the building, and national law usually places them on the owner:

• Germany names the owner explicitly in GEIG.
• Flanders and Wallonia target the owner or holder of the real right.
• Brussels places the duty on the holder of the car park's environmental permit, who may be the tenant operating the car park.
• Spain applies the duty to the owner or the operator of the car park.

In a leased office, that creates a negotiation:

• the landlord is responsible for compliance but may pass the cost on through service charges or rent;
• the tenant often wants more charge points than the legal minimum for its own fleet;
• the lease should say who pays, who owns the equipment, who maintains it, who pays the electricity and who keeps the charging data.

Three questions to send your landlord now: what is your plan for the 1 January 2027 deadline; will the cost appear in service charges; and can we choose the charger and operator so it fits our fleet's billing? Raise the subject at the next lease renewal or break, not after the deadline. In multi-tenant buildings, the car park is often counted once for the whole building, so a single tenant cannot comply alone.

Penalties and enforcement

Enforcement is national or regional, and the amounts vary widely:

• Flanders publishes fixed fines: €2,000 per missing charge point and €1,000 per space without required ducting.
• Germany provides for fines of up to €10,000 under GEIG.
• Spain treats missing charging stations as an infringement of the climate law's implementing rules, enforced by the regions.
• Brussels treats non-compliance as a breach of the environmental permit conditions, checked by Brussels Environment, with an annual declaration.
• Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg and the UK mainly check compliance at permit or building control stage, so the risk appears when you build, renovate or sell.

Beyond fines, a non-compliant building is harder to let and to sell. EV readiness now appears in technical due diligence, green lease clauses and ESG reporting, and the lack of it lowers the rent a landlord can ask from fleet-heavy tenants.

Five common misconceptions

1. "We must install one charger per company EV." No. Every regime counts parking spaces, not vehicles. A company with 60 EVs and a 120-space car park has the same minimum as a company with none.
2. "Every company must install chargers." No. The obligation depends on the building and the number of spaces. A company renting a few spaces in a shared car park, or occupying a building with 20 spaces or fewer, may have no retrofit duty at all.
3. "The rules oblige us to install chargers at employees' homes." No. Building rules apply to the building's car park. Home charging is a matter of company car policy, not building regulation.
4. "A reinforced socket on the wall is enough." Usually not. Flanders requires more than 3.7 kW with a Type 2 or Combo 2 connector, and Germany excludes sockets of 3.7 kW or less from 2027.
5. "Ducting is a loophole." It is an explicit option for existing buildings, designed to prepare the car park at lower cost until demand justifies more charge points.

Mixed-use, shared and multi-site car parks

Three situations cause most of the questions we hear from facilities managers.

Mixed-use buildings. When offices sit above shops or flats, the count depends on the national text. The Netherlands applies the residential rules to the whole building if it has a residential function, so an existing mixed building may have no retrofit duty. Brussels splits the count in proportion to each use. Germany and most other countries look at the main use of the building.

Shared car parks. A car park counts only if it is inside the building or adjacent to it and serves its users. Spaces you rent in a public or third-party car park are normally the operator's problem, not yours. Where several buildings share one car park, Flanders assesses each access separately and adds up each building's share.

Several sites. Each building is assessed on its own. A head office with 120 spaces may be in scope while the warehouse next door, with 18 spaces, is not, even if both belong to the same company. Germany's portfolio option is the exception: it lets an owner concentrate the required points on fewer sites.

What it costs and who can help fund it

A shared AC charge point of 11 or 22 kW typically costs in the order of €1,500 to €4,000 per point installed in Western Europe, depending on cable lengths, groundworks and whether the switchboard or grid connection must be upgraded. Ducting alone is much cheaper when the car park is being resurfaced, and much more expensive when it means breaking existing concrete. Software, supervision and maintenance add a yearly cost per point.

Public support exists but changes often. The Netherlands offers investment allowances (MIA and Vamil) for charging equipment on the environmental list, several Belgian regions and Swiss cantons fund workplace points, and some countries add tax deductions. Note that grants usually cannot fund the legal minimum itself in countries where it is already mandatory. Our article on grants for workplace charging keeps the national schemes up to date.

Building rules versus fleet rules

Car park obligations are often confused with fleet obligations. They are separate.

A company can be fully compliant on its car park and still need a fleet transition plan, and the reverse. Our fleet electrification roadmap covers the fleet side.

Timeline 2024 to 2035

How to comply in five steps

1. List your buildings with, for each: country and region, number of spaces inside or adjacent, owned or leased, office or other use, any planned renovation.
2. Apply the national rule and the 2027 EPBD floor, whichever is stricter, and note whether the national text has been updated.
3. Choose between points and ducting for each existing car park, based on real demand rather than the legal minimum alone.
4. Specify smart, interoperable chargers (OCPP, load management) so they meet the directive and can grow without replacing the grid connection.
5. Settle the lease question with your landlord in writing, and keep a compliance file (count, plan, invoices, commissioning report) for audits and due diligence.

Our workplace charge point installation guide covers the project steps and the grid connection, and our guide to charging infrastructure architecture explains the technical choices.

Complying without oversizing the car park

The legal minimum is modest. The real question is how much charging capacity your fleet and visitors actually need on site, and here the data usually surprises: most company EVs charge at home overnight, at a lower cost per kWh than public rapid chargers. A workplace car park mainly serves pool cars, visitors, employees who cannot charge at home, and the occasional top-up.

Take a head office with 120 spaces and 60 company EVs. The EPBD 2027 floor is 12 points or ducting for 60 spaces. If 45 drivers charge at home, only 15 cars plus visitors need the site regularly, and with load management 12 to 15 points are enough. Equipping one point per car would mean 60 points, four to five times the need.

A practical sequence:

1. Count what the law requires for each building.
2. Measure real demand: how many drivers can charge at home, how many cannot, how many pool cars return to site each evening.
3. Install the legal minimum plus what the data justifies, and use ducting to prepare the rest.
4. Reimburse home charging properly, so drivers who can charge at home keep doing it.

Where the car park ends and the home begins

Building rules make sure the workplace is ready. They say nothing about the place where most company EVs actually charge: the driver's home. That part needs no new charge points; it needs measurement and fair reimbursement.

Voltaback reads each home charging session from the car, links it to the right vehicle and reimburses it at the real price of the driver's electricity contract, or at the national flat rate where one applies. Voltaback relies on the home's MID-certified meter, not on a standalone cable meter. The measurement has been audited by an independent third party (1.22 % relative error), the platform is ISO 27001 certified since 2 December 2025, and the company never receives drivers' locations. See how home charging reimbursement works, or use our installation recommendation simulator to size what each driver needs at home.

Take action

Check the obligation for each of your buildings against the national rule and the 2027 EPBD floor, install what the law and real demand require, and let home charging, where most company EVs refuel, be measured and reimbursed fairly. If you would like help sizing your workplace and home charging strategy, talk to our team.